My newest tracking. Previously:

What Gets Measured, Gets Managed - why tracking is so effective

The Evolution of My Time/Habit/Life Tracking - how I started tracking, and some helpful guidelines on starting your tracking.

Here's my newest template, I'm bolding the changes:

-------------------------------------------
START OF DAY ROUTINE:
Time awake:
Total sleep:
Vitamin C and Fish oil:
Stretching:
Situps:
Exercise (walk/run/other):
Brush/floss:
Listen to audio:
Calories:
Breathe:
Borderlands:
Calendar, anything interesting/time sensitive?
What is my most key objective for the day?
Planning:
Gratitude:
-------------------------------------------
REMEMBER:
*Intelligent internet usage
*Be decisive. Look at it once, make a decision, done.
*Stop and reflect periodically
*Make WAR on Procrastination
-------------------------------------------
PEOPLE:
Blog post:
New People:
Current people:
Help someone:
Consorting:
Emails in box, start:
Emails in box, finish (and - why they there?):
-------------------------------------------
TIME TRACKING:

-------------------------------------------
FOOD/CALORIES/TRAINING

-------------------------------------------
CHALLENGES:
Did I start the day in my planner instead of online?
Did I only check email when I was ready to write back immediately?
Did I clear my active to do list before any screwing around?
Did I avoid getting into arguments with idiots online?
Did I only check a site once, then done with it?
Did I prioritize books/good learning instead of mindless surfing?
Did I avoid sugary food?
Did I make war on procrastination?
-------------------------------------------
END OF DAY:
What are my key life goals? Spend 5 minutes on this.
Expenses for the day (estimate)?
Cash gotten or worked towards today:
What did I do right to move me towards my goals?
What would I do differently if I had the day to live over?
Plan tomorrow:
Make a request of my subconscious:
Set alarm:
-------------------------------------------

A couple days ago, I wound up shaved bald after my hair got wrecked here in Vietnam. Well, I'm a big believer in using whatever you've got available to you. Changing appearance is a good time to make some lifestyle changes. I'd been meaning to set some bodyfat% goals and general fitness goals anyways, so I figured now was as good as ever.

Thus, I swapped the "Food" line at the top where I just tracked what I ate basically, for a "Calories" line where I put the total for the day. I added a "FOOD/CALORIES/TRAINING" section I'll list everything. I don't think I'll do this for very long, maybe just a month or two to get a handle on what my natural caloric intake is, then I'll set my targets and decide roughly what meals I'll eat each day, then eat the same meals most days. I'm pretty simple with my tastes for food. I'm going to try to get two training sessions in a day - one running, and then one either walking, weight training, or yoga, or something.

Ever since I did some gratitude tracking last month, I was thinking about how to work it more into my day. I think I've got down - I've just got a line "Gratitude," at some point in the day I fill it out as much as I want. Some days it's 20-30 items in there, some days there's like one thing when I realize it's not done at the end of the day.

The "CHALLENGES" section has been really good for me to stay on top of things that are easy to let slip. I added "Did I make war on procrastination?" there, and "Make WAR on Procrastination" on my list of things to remember each day. I got that from a podcast, I forget which one unfortunately or I'd give credit. I think it was a Merlin Mann podcast, but not sure. Merlin's good anyways, so look him up. But if I'm giving someone else's "Make war on procrastination" credit to Merlin, then shoot me an email and straighten me out. It's a good way of thinking about - procrastination as almost an entity to be resisted. It's a useful mental abstraction - it sounds kind of hokey, but it works in practice for me.

The rest of my tracking is detailed in the posts at the top. Oh, I'm out of fish oil. I've got to find a pharmacy and go buy some and some L-Glutamine, maybe creatine if I'm going to be lifting weights. Hmm. Well, this is all something to think about, I only started significantly training again yesterday. I went for a one hour run/jog this morning, and then a long walk in the evening, and it was a great combination.

Note: If you're thinking about building your own tracking, make sure you start slow and scale up as detailed in the evolution post. I get at least two emails a month from people that say, "I started tracking, but I copied your entire list and it was too much, then I didn't do it." Yes, of course not. You have to start smaller and build up. 70% success on a smaller list is better than 10% success on a big list, even if it's the same amount of stuff. Trust me on this, read the evolution post and how I started, and start small-ish and add when you're getting into a good groove.

As always, please feel very welcome to comment or shoot an email if you want help building your tracking out or want to make a public commitment.