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1. How to Set Up Your New TRACKTION Planner

Setting up your first TRACKTION Planner takes 30 – 60 minutes depending on how much learning and thinking you need to do around your habits, values and metrics.

For more help with these, including pre-filled examples and cheat sheets, click any links on this page or head to the sections part of this guide.

Setting up your 4-Week Focus Pages

To begin setting up your new TRACKTION Planner…

1. Complete your first Wheel of Life on page 6.
2. Note the ONE area of life you’re least satisfied with, also page 6.

Now, for that same, lowest scoring area of life…

3. Pick one habit that if you did it consistently…
4. Pick one value that if you already embodied it…
5. Pick one metric that if you measured it daily…

…would move this score’s area significantly closer to 10.

6. Label your chosen habit, value and metric in the first columns on pages 7, 8 and 9.
7. Add up to 4 more habits, values and metrics in the remaining columns.

TIP: It is TOTALLY fine to start with just one habit, one value and one metric then add to your list each month as you get more comfortable with the process.

8. Set appropriate units for each metric on page 9.

N.B., Habits are always ✓ or ✘ activities. Values are always tallys (卌) of times in a day where we failed to embody that value.

9. Set ideal targets (counts, totals, averages) for week one for each habit, value and metric on pages 7, 8 and 9.

TIP: You might choose not to worry about targets in your very first week. Instead, collect a week’s worth of data, then set targets for week 2 based on how things went in week 1.

10. Use one of your three ribbons (or set a PDF bookmark) to mark your place so you can quickly get back to your active 4-Week Focus Pages when needed

Congratulations! You’ve identified the one area of life most holding you back, picked three concrete ways to improve it each day and maybe even set targets in other areas.

Even if all you did for 28-days was fill out these pages, the clarity, accountability and focus you’ve unlocked would already dramatically upgrade your life.

Setting up your Weekly Pages

With your 4-Week Focus Pages in hand, it’s time to think about Weekly Goals.

Turn to page 22 and set one goal for the week ahead in each of TRACKTION’s core areas. Pay special attention to the lowest scoring area from your Wheel of Life.

TIP: For a definition of each area as well as tips on best-practice goal setting, check out the Weekly Goals part of this guide.

When you’re done, ask: “If I looked back and the only things I’d accomplish by this time next week were these eight goals, would I feel satisfied with the last seven days?”

If the answer is yes, you’ve set some good goals.

If the answer is no, adjust your goals until you’re happy with the results.

N.B., It is TOTALLY normal to set underly or overly ambitious weekly goals in the first few months of using the TRACKTION Planner.

One of the main benefits of repeating this process is getting better at estimating what is and isn’t achievable. Start with some goals, expect them not to be perfect and see goal setting as a skill you’re going to improve at.

We’ll return to page 23 as part of your Weekly Ritual.

For now, use the second of your three ribbons (or a PDF bookmark) to mark your place so you can quickly get back to your active Weekly Pages later on.

Setting up your Daily Pages

Turn to pages 48 and 49 and have a look at the first of your Daily Pages. To set them up:

1. Write the week (“1”) and circle the current day in the top right of pages 48 and 49.
2. In the first space under Today’s Top Priorities on page 49 write a next action that:
   • EITHER progresses the Weekly Goal in your lowest scoring life area;
   • OR improves the same area in some other way (like your main habit, page 7).

TIP: Start actions with a verb and make them doable. “Call Luigi’s to book table for 8pm” is much better than “Restaurant”. Thinking now makes make acting later much easier.

3. Review your calendar, Weekly Goals, projects, plans and to-do lists to complete your priority actions. Ask: “If I could only accomplish five things today, what would I do?”
4. Use the circles by each action to rank your priority actions from 2 – 6.
5. Make a note of any more actions in the space for Other Actions.

Well done! You’ve created a clear, concise checklist for your first day of using your planner.

Unless time, tools or context prevent it, you should always work through your list of Today’s Top Priorities in the order you’ve ranked them, regardless which area of life they apply to.

To finish setting up your day for success:

6. Plan your Ideal Schedule on page 48 using your action lists and calendar.

The ideal vs. actual schedule page is one that many people struggle with at first. It’s also their most powerful tool later on.

To help, remember that your ideal schedule is NOT a fixed plan. It’s an IDEAL. I.e., “If you could wave a magic wand and have tomorrow be a perfect day, what would it look like?”

For more help with this, see the Ideal Schedule part of the guide.

That’s it! You’ve set up your planner, committed to targeted habits, values and metrics, set balanced weekly goals and prepared your first day for breakout success.

Most people don’t even get this far in a lifetime. You just did it in under an hour.

And the best part? You’ve already learned 80% of the basics.

For the last 20%, and to get the most from your planner day-to-day, let’s begin by discussing your new Daily Rituals ➡️➡️