Finally ditched my complicated spreadsheet for a plain Google Doc

I used to track every project in a 12-tab spreadsheet until I lost 2 hours trying to fix a formula breakdown last Tuesday. What tipped me off was my accountant saying 'you're working for your system, not the other way around' - has anyone else found a simpler tracking method that actually sticks?

3 comments

3 Comments

victorhernandez8d ago

Have you tried just using a single column in the doc for each project? I started doing that after my formulas kept breaking and it helped me stop overthinking everything. The key for me was accepting that "good enough" tracking beats perfect tracking I actually avoid.

rowan_ross9d ago

Started using a plain text file with bullet points instead of Excel and honestly my productivity jumped by like 200% just from not having to fight color coded conditional formatting rules anymore. My personal low point was when I spent 45 minutes making a "priority matrix" that basically said "do the thing thats due soonest" but with extra steps. Now I just write three things I need to do each day on a sticky note and somehow that works better than all my fancy trackers combined.

smith.lee9d ago

I mean, I get what you're saying about the sticky note thing, but I see it different. That "priority matrix" you spent 45 minutes on, yeah that's a lot, but for me the real value is in the bigger picture stuff that a simple list just can't show. I've tried the whole "three things on a sticky note" approach and it felt like I was just guessing at what mattered most without any real context. Having a spreadsheet with categories and tags helps me see where I'm actually spinning my wheels versus where I'm making real progress, even if it takes a few extra minutes to set up. Maybe it's just me but I'd rather spend 10 minutes tweaking a formula than lose a whole week chasing the wrong thing.