[bujo] tracking, three ways
Mar. 30th, 2022 04:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaberett[Cross-posted to ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bujo, and reproduced here for my own records.]
Several times recently I've ended up explaining how I track symptoms and "habits" in my bullet journal, so have a proper write-up of my current system!
I have three levels of tracker: yearly, monthly, and daily.
My yearly tracker is mostly focussed on logging my migraines. I last posted about this in any detail shortly after setting up a tracker for the second half of 2021, with six months across two pages. This year I moved to a different format of notebook (though still dot grid!) and also decided I wanted more space to make notes, so I've gone to four months across two pages:
Down the outermost edges of the page, I've got dates 1-31. Each page is then divided into two columns, one per month, with the weeks separated by addition of extra dots, and the end of the month shown with a solid line.
I've used the space at the bottom of the page for a series of keys: the number scale I'm using for headache severity, the abbreviations I'm using for medication, and the symbols I'm using to indicate symptoms and alcohol and caffeine consumption. (These are included at least as much so that I can more easily hand medical professionals photocopies as because I actually need them for reference.)
Within each month, I use the first column to record headache severity that day, the penultimate column to record whether or not I napped, and the final column to record which day of my menstrual cycle I'm on, including symbols for spotting and bleeding. I don't have fixed columns for any of the other symbols: I sometimes contemplate it but so far it's more useful to me to record what order symptoms show up in than it is to be able to identify the frequency of any given symbol at a glance. For bonus points, having decided I'm not going to have fixed columns for specific symbols means I don't have to worry about having at least one dedicated column per symbol, which would pretty rapidly lead to only being able to fit one month onto a single A5 page. :-p
At the beginning of each month, I set up pages for meal (dinner) planning, a line a day of gratitude/good things, a physio tracker, and a sleep/activity tracker. The meal planner I divide into three columns -- "planned", "actual", and "to use". The physio tracker and sleep tracker are the ones I'm going to show you:
Dates down the left hand side of the page, this time with a blank line separating weeks; exercises across the top; and a blank column at the right for me to note meds changes or any other significant unusual health things.
When I partly complete an exercise, I draw a single diagonal line through the box for that exercise for that date. If I do it in its entirety, I use three diagonal lines. The overall effect is a pattern of diamonds; I use a different colour each day so over the course of the month this gradually builds up to create a rainbow. It is an enormously self-indulgent sticker chart and I've been doing much better at keeping up with physio since I started doing it.
On the right hand page, I repeat the dates down the left-hand side, and then write hours from 00 to 24 across the top. My goal is to be actually in bed and trying to sleep between 10pm and 7am, so I've got extra dots down those columns (and more widely-spaced dots along the line for noon) to help orient me while I'm filling it out. I mark the time I was asleep with a grey highlighter; I have in the past marked time I spent at the allotment with a green highlighter. I'm not doing that at the moment, but I do want to reconsider marking in time I spend on physical activity as well as time I spent sleeping. (The numbers written into the day-grids are the Bristol stool scale, to help track how well my chronic constipation is managed.)
My migraine tracker is marked with a strip of coloured tape down the edge of the page, so it's easy to find and flip to; I keep one of this notebook's two ribbon bookmarks on the monthly physio tracker. Both of these pages have settled into routine for me -- I fill out the migraine tracker on my way to bed, and the physio tracker both at A Meal (several of my exercises are best done in a chair, so when I'm sitting at the dining table) and On My Way To Bed.
My bonus daily trackers, on the other hand, are for shit I want reminding needs doing every time I wind up staring blankly at my todo list, because they don't have set times of day.
Under the heading for each day, I've got a row of small quick-to-draw symbols. The first is a summary of the weather that day -- for me the most important consideration (in terms of "how badly do my plants need watering?") is whether it rained. I then have symbols for showering, brushing my hair, watering my plants (at home and at the allotment), doing music practice (Just One Note!) and doing Duolingo (four corners, one corner per language). I colour them in when I've done them using the same colour pen as I'm using for that day's physio tracker. This way I get both repeated prompts throughout the day to Do The Thing without actually writing each of them out every single time, and a useful when-did-I-last at-a-glance.
So! Three kinds of tracking, determined by how the activities I'm tracking fit (or don't) into my routine, and what kind of after-the-fact use I make of the information. There we go.
bujo, and reproduced here for my own records.]Several times recently I've ended up explaining how I track symptoms and "habits" in my bullet journal, so have a proper write-up of my current system!
I have three levels of tracker: yearly, monthly, and daily.
My yearly tracker is mostly focussed on logging my migraines. I last posted about this in any detail shortly after setting up a tracker for the second half of 2021, with six months across two pages. This year I moved to a different format of notebook (though still dot grid!) and also decided I wanted more space to make notes, so I've gone to four months across two pages:
Down the outermost edges of the page, I've got dates 1-31. Each page is then divided into two columns, one per month, with the weeks separated by addition of extra dots, and the end of the month shown with a solid line.
I've used the space at the bottom of the page for a series of keys: the number scale I'm using for headache severity, the abbreviations I'm using for medication, and the symbols I'm using to indicate symptoms and alcohol and caffeine consumption. (These are included at least as much so that I can more easily hand medical professionals photocopies as because I actually need them for reference.)
Within each month, I use the first column to record headache severity that day, the penultimate column to record whether or not I napped, and the final column to record which day of my menstrual cycle I'm on, including symbols for spotting and bleeding. I don't have fixed columns for any of the other symbols: I sometimes contemplate it but so far it's more useful to me to record what order symptoms show up in than it is to be able to identify the frequency of any given symbol at a glance. For bonus points, having decided I'm not going to have fixed columns for specific symbols means I don't have to worry about having at least one dedicated column per symbol, which would pretty rapidly lead to only being able to fit one month onto a single A5 page. :-p
At the beginning of each month, I set up pages for meal (dinner) planning, a line a day of gratitude/good things, a physio tracker, and a sleep/activity tracker. The meal planner I divide into three columns -- "planned", "actual", and "to use". The physio tracker and sleep tracker are the ones I'm going to show you:
Dates down the left hand side of the page, this time with a blank line separating weeks; exercises across the top; and a blank column at the right for me to note meds changes or any other significant unusual health things.
When I partly complete an exercise, I draw a single diagonal line through the box for that exercise for that date. If I do it in its entirety, I use three diagonal lines. The overall effect is a pattern of diamonds; I use a different colour each day so over the course of the month this gradually builds up to create a rainbow. It is an enormously self-indulgent sticker chart and I've been doing much better at keeping up with physio since I started doing it.
On the right hand page, I repeat the dates down the left-hand side, and then write hours from 00 to 24 across the top. My goal is to be actually in bed and trying to sleep between 10pm and 7am, so I've got extra dots down those columns (and more widely-spaced dots along the line for noon) to help orient me while I'm filling it out. I mark the time I was asleep with a grey highlighter; I have in the past marked time I spent at the allotment with a green highlighter. I'm not doing that at the moment, but I do want to reconsider marking in time I spend on physical activity as well as time I spent sleeping. (The numbers written into the day-grids are the Bristol stool scale, to help track how well my chronic constipation is managed.)
My migraine tracker is marked with a strip of coloured tape down the edge of the page, so it's easy to find and flip to; I keep one of this notebook's two ribbon bookmarks on the monthly physio tracker. Both of these pages have settled into routine for me -- I fill out the migraine tracker on my way to bed, and the physio tracker both at A Meal (several of my exercises are best done in a chair, so when I'm sitting at the dining table) and On My Way To Bed.
My bonus daily trackers, on the other hand, are for shit I want reminding needs doing every time I wind up staring blankly at my todo list, because they don't have set times of day.
Under the heading for each day, I've got a row of small quick-to-draw symbols. The first is a summary of the weather that day -- for me the most important consideration (in terms of "how badly do my plants need watering?") is whether it rained. I then have symbols for showering, brushing my hair, watering my plants (at home and at the allotment), doing music practice (Just One Note!) and doing Duolingo (four corners, one corner per language). I colour them in when I've done them using the same colour pen as I'm using for that day's physio tracker. This way I get both repeated prompts throughout the day to Do The Thing without actually writing each of them out every single time, and a useful when-did-I-last at-a-glance.
So! Three kinds of tracking, determined by how the activities I'm tracking fit (or don't) into my routine, and what kind of after-the-fact use I make of the information. There we go.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-30 03:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-30 03:27 pm (UTC)When I do tracking and to do lists, it's all messy and out of order and chaotic, and I do it on computer so I can copy and paste and move it around until it's at all legible.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-30 06:39 pm (UTC)Computer lists I just kept... not looking at. :| (The long-term todo list is ELSEWHERE in the notebook. these are really just What Do I Think I Might Be Able To Get Done Today.)
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-30 04:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-30 04:05 pm (UTC)I am frequently a little sheepish about how good an incentive The Pretty is to do my physio, but hey, it works!
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-30 07:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-30 07:43 pm (UTC)How long does it take you to set this all up regularly?? I’m looking at the row of daily symbols in particular and going “…drawing things to color in is quicker/easier than writing them???” :p
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-30 08:02 pm (UTC)Setting up the row of symbols each day takes me... less than 90 seconds? Definitely less time than faffing about with a whole other pen to do the daily headings! :-p
Setting up the outlines for a month is actually just five pages with 1-28/29/30/31 down the side, plus however much time I want to spend faffing with the headers, so that takes me sort of 15 to 30 minutes once a month, depending on how much I'm faffing and getting distracted? And it doesn't all need to be done at once.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-31 05:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-31 10:02 pm (UTC)I spent quite a while dithering over what the symbols should be but I did pick them to be quick to draw once I'd decided on them! :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-30 09:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-30 10:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-30 10:30 pm (UTC)<3
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-31 02:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-31 09:44 pm (UTC)