Almost two years ago I made the decision to track every dollar I make and spend. Not because I wanted to, but because I needed to.

My debt had been growing like a California wildfire–uncontrolled and choking the life out of me.

The problem started off small. I'd go out to dinner and put it on my credit card or buy a new pair of shoes and worry about the bill later. Something fun would come up and I would take an unpaid day off to enjoy life a little. At first I would pay off the card as soon as I could, but eventually I started skipping payments.

I was developing a habit of accruing debt that earns interest while simultaneously making less money and living above my means without any limits or budget to speak of.

Obviously, this was a recipe for disaster.

When I calculated my total debt at the beginning of 2025 I realized just how bad the problem had gotten.

The amount was enough to cause a small panick attack. My body felt like it was collapsing under the forces of gravity and existential dread.

I needed a plan to get out of this mess of my own making.

I went back to first principles: How much money do I make and how much do I spend?

To figure that out I started tracking every incoming and outgoing dollar. I would track transactions in my pocket notebook throughout the day and then log everything into a spreadsheet at night. Within a few weeks I found the problem: I spent more money than I made. (Surprise!)

The next puzzle to solve was figuring out what behaviors and spending patterns could be modified to get my spending below my earnings. Tracking everything created the objective record I needed to stop justifying my poor spending habits.

With that objective data I could see the simple behaviors I needed to change: get groceries at Costco instead of more expensive local markets, stop buying takeout, and don't get a latte every day.

I know it's super basic stuff, but these solutions were invisible to me until I started keeping accurate records.

So with a budget in place, accurate records being kept, and a few tweaks to my daily spending habits, I was starting to see progress. I was able to save some money for the first time in months and start to chip away at the debt that felt so suffocating just weeks before.

By continuing to track my transactions I was able to visually see the numbers in my bank account go up while my debt dwindled in size. This created a positive feedback loop where the more progress I made, the more motivated I became to make further changes.

I found it so useful that I started tracking a variety of other things in my Bullet Journal to aid me in reaching my goals. Now, I track books I read and time spent reading, how often I write, my workouts, study hours, and whatever habits may be relevant for my aims.

These trackers are always aimed at informing me about my behaviors so that I can course correct when needed and avoid another situation where I let a few bad habits snowball out of control like I did with my debt.

That's why tracking is such a powerful tool. By creating an objective record, you're able to learn and adjust your behavior to make changes. Those changes create visible results on your record, which creates a positive reinforcement loop that motivates you to continue to make more positive behavior changes to meet your goals.

When you feel like you're making real progress toward your goals, and the objective record proves that you are, it's easy to stay motivated and consistent longterm.

While I'm not debt-free yet, I can confidently say that tracking put me on the right track.

Prompt:

What do you track, or could you track, to help you reach your goals?