getting to minimal: what do you really need to track?

134048_1851Leo Babauta of Zen Habits fame has an equally interesting side project called mnmlist.com. Awhile back, he had an interesting post called “Getting to Minimal: All the Info You Need to Track.” He advocates taking a hard look at all the information you are currently tracking and deciding if it’s truly necessary. Are you spending too much time keeping track of things that really aren’t that important? Is there anyway you can combine some of the different types of information that you are currently tracking?

I love tracking things. In fact, I’ve already written about the paradox between living simply and data collection. With that in mind, I decided to take a hard look at what I currently track and came up with the following list of the bare minimum of information I need to have a handle on to make sure my life runs smoothly:

  • Spending: Logged in a spreadsheet in Google Docs. Considering moving it over to Evernote with the majority of everything else I track.
  • Appointments and Errands: In my Google Calendar.  My schedule is emailed to me every morning before I wake up so I am sure not to miss anything vital.
  • Projects and Tasks: I use the software “Things” to track everything related to my projects and tasks.  Syncs with my iPod Touch.
  • Contact Info: Between Gmail and my cell phone, I have all the contact information I need.  There are a few business cards that I have saved into Evernote as well.
  • Financial Information: My banks are all accessed online.
  • Logins and Passwords: Safari has all of my login/password information saved. Although, I am considering using a password manager to do this more effectively.
  • My Writing Ideas: All writing ideas are saved within Evernote.

I no longer worry about tracking everything I eat or all the fitness activities that I partake in.  I have found that tracking this information for only a week or two at a time provides me with the information I need regarding my habits without becoming a burden on my everyday life.  However, I do throw some very basic information into Evernote after every run that I complete and every book that I finish reading.  This literally takes less than ten seconds each time I have something to submit and therefore I don’t consider it to be much of a time or attention sink.  I like to be able to look back through time and see how I have improved and throwing that information into Evernote is an incredibly simple way to do that.

So what about you? What do you need to track to keep your life running smoothly?  Are you wasting time by tracking too much? Can you combine your information so you have less places to go to check it?

Photo by urbaneye

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under logging, simplicity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Sam
    @Axel

    I've tried using Instapaper, but it was made redundant by the way I already use Evernote. With the "Readability" bookmarklet and the Clip to Evernote button in Safari, I essentially replicate Instapaper withing a program I already use all the time.

    You are right though, I was impressed by it. If I didn't use Evernote to track articles to read, I'd be all over Instapaper.
  • Axel
    Forgot the most useful of them, probably because it's become so seamless and natural :

    Instapaper.
  • Axel
    Hi Sam,

    Good articles, keep them coming !

    Not really tracking, but in the set it and forget it category of tech syncing services there is also Dropbox for files. For me it comes as a complement of the free account on Evernote which I just use for capturing text or image notes. My documents, courses, pdfs, etc., get synced and backed up on Dropbox automagically between multiple computers/iPhone, and are accessible through the website when on someone else's computer. Very neat and unobtrusive.

    For running I treated myself to the Garmin Forerunner 405 which syncs wirelessly with the computer each time I get back from a run, all the info getting transferred to their community website for reviewing data, and planning the next training which gets sent back to the device. Very nice gadget !

    MacJournal for more intimate/in-depth writing, with a personal journal, thoughts journal, occasionally a dream journal input. This comes after the capture stage of ideas/thoughts in Evernote.

    iCompta for financial, gets synced with iPhone app which allows for input on the go, so no more fuss at the end of the month looking for receipts.

    Google reader / Net News Wire combination for RSS feeds.

    Killed iGoogle a little while ago to eliminate distractions : I used to open the browser for a specific search but ended up looking at the Mail/RSS and other updates and forgetting my initial search.

    Used to track sleeping hours, but not necessary anymore, got my bad habits fixed.

    I track my printer cartridges stock in a spreadsheet... never fun to be out of ink.

    Amazon lists track my books to read along with Evernote.

    Probably more that I can't think of though...

    Cheers !
  • Sam
    I've tried Dropbox, but I have decided to stick with Mozy for my remote backing up needs. It seemed redundant to have both and I feel like Mozy is the better deal. It doesn't back up quite as often as Dropbox (which is basically instantaneously), but I very rarely use a computer other than my laptop so that feature was not vital. You can't beat unlmited storage space for $4.95!

    Thanks for the comment and have a great day.
  • I have my contacts in gmail, and I put everything else into Evernote. I don't track financial information, though.
  • Sam
    Evernote is great. There is almost no limit to what it can track. Love being able to use one program for one task when at all possible.

    I didn't used to track my financial information, but I love being able to see my spending broken down into different categories each month. It has definitely helped me identify areas of my budget that needed corralling.
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