A little over a month ago, I began testing a one-page daily report card. Learn more about the idea and my experiment here. I now feel that I have enough data to evaluate this experiment and what I’ve learned from it.

I’ve decided that I like this habit. It feels like a natural extension of my blog-post habit that’s focusing on daily execution. Starting each day by detailing what I want to get done and ending the day by listing what I actually did has helped illuminate the gap between the two every day, which helps me recalibrate for the next day. The sections on mistakes and lessons learned are useful because they force me to stop and think about what I did wrong (no shortage of material there) and what I learned from those mistakes. Reflecting on this daily has led to insights that have helped in my daily recalibration. Grading my time in two-hour blocks has surfaced patterns that I might not otherwise have noticed.

Overall, this habit is a way to create an accelerated feedback loop on how I work. I’m evaluating myself and reflecting every day, which lets me make micro changes every day. I can see how making small improvements daily (e.g., 1%) would compound to big changes over a longer period.

Will it become a long-term habit like this blog? Time will tell. It’s still an experiment, but right now I’m getting value from it, and it’s challenging in a fun way.