"If you didn't write it down, it didn't happen."And I never wanted to listen. It just took too much time and effort to write things down. But when I started my PhD, I knew I would need some sort of way to make sure that I stayed on track. These kinds of programs are by design structureless. So as a student who refuses to go ABD (All But Dissertation), imposing a structure on myself is absolutely imperative.
Enter my Captain's Log
And yes, this is a Star Trek reference.
I used GoogleForms to create a log for my daily activities. In it, I track if I engaged in scholarly activities (reading, writing, data collection/analysis), teaching activities, or service activities. I also track a few personal metrics such as the miles I walked, (see The Year to Thrive and 1,000 Miles).
At the end of the week, I can access the data summary that Google so nicely puts together.