u/ZeatLohh

(27M) About two years ago now I made a change that genuinely changed my life.

At the time, I was in a bit of a rut. I was in my own head constantly, feeling guilty about every little thing. Devoid of happiness when I had a lot to be happy about.

I was smoking weed too often, gaming too much, doomscrolling for hours, eating like shit, you name it. Anything but what I actually needed to be doing. Stuck in a closed loop.

I had a massive industry exam on the horizon but repeatedly put off much needed studying to indulge in my bad habits. This constantly led me down an awful decision tree.

I'd be invited to events or gatherings and either:
a) decline because I was so behind on studying; or
b) go and have a terrible time because of the massive guilt I felt for being there

At the time, I blamed this guilt on going out despite being so behind. Now I blame it on the habits that kept me behind in the first place. And now I rarely have any guilt about anything.

I'd tried all the basic habit trackers and productivity planners. None of them worked for me. Never moved the needle.

After exhausting that arsenal of meaningless trackers, I had this idea to literally grade myself every day. Like, old-school style. Elementary school stuff.

It works kinda like this:

1. pick a handful of things to accomplish each day
2. weigh them on priority/importance
3. score myself out of 100pts each day
4. assign a correlating letter grade
5. write the grade down somewhere you'll see it daily

I was hooked on day one, addicted to chasing the A+.

Mentally, I know my rough current grade throughout the day and it constantly pushes me in the right direction. If I ever really want to skip a task I'll think to myself "this is the only thing keeping me from a perfect day." And then I'll do it. Almost always.

And then I'll see it on my calendar and be proud of it. And all the grades before it. Well, most grades before it... we all have our moments of weakness.

There's something psychological about it that just makes it work. It motivates me in a way that habit streaks never could.

I've kept this up for nearly two years now. Thinking about it now, it's one of the only things I've ever done so consistently.

It's hard to express how much I've changed and how much happier I am. I've cut out all the bullshit holding me back, and I've never felt so in control of my own life. I finally feel like a kid again.

If you're stuck, give it a try. Paper calendars are like $7. And I'm sure you have a sharpie.

And if that's not your speed, I've turned it into an app. It's far more robust than my calendar ever was, but it works just the same.