Convert life into a spreadsheet
As we grow up, we keep hearing the saying “focus on the long term” and how to have a vision for life. But this always lacks a proper way to envision and crystallize the goals. I have been pondering on this for quite a while for now and tried out ways to interpret this in real life. This is where I have stumbled upon using spreadsheets for my life goals. As a day-to-day job i use spreadsheets like bread and butter but when it comes to life in general i underestimated the power of spreadsheets
Important milestones: Like for any other project, life has some major milestones like first job, first business, locking with life partner, saving money for retirement, first investment with fixed(assumed) deadlines which are relevant for everyone's life.
Goals and deadlines: All the milestones come with deadlines, rewards and penalties attached to it. Project manager has to plan for all the uncertainties and yet plan to complete the project within stipulated time
Life Gantt: Gantt is an important aspect of the project which gives a 6 months - 1 year down the line view about the project. Similarly, in life, having life Gantt helps us having clear view about life down to 2- 3 years of life
How spreadsheets are useful : Spreadsheet presents a unique case to the visionaries. It offers a MxN grid to have all the variables plotted for the task to complete with ownership, threats, prerequisites and other variables that are crucial to complete the task. It also forces us to follow a certain pattern to all the tasks, which we might not follow if the same tasks are written down in a paper or a doc. With spreadsheets, you can have a mandatory field like timelines with data validation checks and offers us to write down the progress made from time to time
Pivot the life: This is a crucial step to the entire process. By using spreadsheets, you can have a bird's eye view of what is happening in life and what is working out and what is not. Have a periodical check-in into the spreadsheet to keep journaling all the important tasks that are happening in life and how it is helping you in reaching goals in a shorter time or any rendezvous points.
Journaling as a habit : Like they say in business, the ideas are as good as the one that executes them. Similarly, in life, it is as good as the way you execute them. One of the important aspects of this is forming and maintaining habits that make you productive. One of the key habits of successful people is to maintain a proper journal of things that are happening in their life.
You keep with the habit of journaling your life in a spreadsheet, you will become more clear on where your life is going and incidentally where you want to take it