Why You Should Use A Personal Report Card

Author: Dustin Crossland

12-16-2023

517 days ago, I was driving home after visiting my sister in Hot Springs, AR, and I was listening to a book on Audible. The writer began going over the idea of a personal report card. For the life of me, I can’t remember the name or author of the book, but I remember thinking that it was genius. I immediately pulled over on a dark mountain road and began making my report card template through my phone’s Google Sheets app, and I’m still using the same template to this day.

The idea behind the personal report card is to evaluate yourself on six key areas of your life at the end of every day. Admittedly, I haven’t done it every single day, but I have managed to complete my report card entry exactly 75.97% of the time as of today. Saturdays are my worst at only about 59%, but I mark it up to the fact that I’m out and about more often on Saturdays, and just forget to do it.

Through filling out my report card, I’ve been forced to consciously think about how I did that day, allowing myself the opportunity to be proud of myself or to see my mistakes and course correct them the following day. It brings key parts of your life top of mind, where you might go weeks without really evaluating yourself otherwise. Implementing this feedback mechanism has helped me stay on track in multiple areas of my life. The questions start with “Did I do my best to…”, and I simply rate myself on a scale of 1 to 10 on my effort level in each of the following areas:

1. Did I do my best to set clear goals?

For me, setting clear goals means I knew specifically what I wanted to accomplish during the day. I probably wrote them down by putting them on my Google Tasks board for the day. This can also apply to longer-term goals. For example, do you want to improve your Excel skills? Simply writing down “Improve Excel skills” gets you a 1 on this report card question. Rephrasing in a way that might be worthy of giving yourself a 10 here might be “Improve my Excel skills by completing insert Excel course here by insert date here by insert specific measurable action here” - like this: “Improve my Excel skills by completing Excel Mastery on Udemy by 1/3/2024 by doing 2 modules a day from today until then”. The latter is something you can use to track your progress, which you will assess yourself on in question number 2!

2. Did I do my best to make progress toward my goals?

Of course, setting clear goals means nothing if you don’t make progress toward achieving them. Did you do your best to keep distractions at bay? Did you do your best to stay focused and funnel your energy toward the tasks that are getting you closer to your goals? This could be sitting down and writing up an outline for your next work project, planning a day out with the family, or blocking off time to engage in your hobbies. Did you leave it all on the court? That’s a 10. Did you do anything but the items you put on your task list? That’s a 1.

3. Did I do my best to find meaning?

As a person who largely shares a worldview with the Existentialists, this is probably the question I struggle with answering the most. For me though, I try to answer this question by assessing how well allowed myself to not take life too seriously. My natural tendency is to be on 24/7, learning new things, building something, getting better at my hobbies, etc, so I have to make sure I’m taking time to just enjoy life and not use too much of my time putting in work.

4. Did I do my best to be happy?

This one feels like it has some crossover with #3, but I see this question as more related to managing your mental state. Did you do your best to not let the little things ruin your day? Did you do your best to let things go? Did you do things that bring you joy? Life is short, and it’s imperative that you consciously choose happiness on a daily basis. My favorite quote, while not directly about happiness, does a lot for me when something derails my happiness:

"Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.” - Epictetus

Essentially, focus on what you can control, and just roll with the punches on anything else.

5. Did I do my best to build positive relationships?

Were you a kind person? Did you make an effort to strengthen relationships that you care about? Did you treat strangers with respect and courtesy? Did you employ empathy in order to seek to understand before seeking to be understood? This one is usually pretty obvious if we’re honest with ourselves (which is key for the answers to these questions to mean anything). Relationships will make or break your personal happiness, the success of a business venture, a family that loves you, and nearly anything else in your life. #6 is a great place to start if you need help in this area:

6. Did I do my best to be fully engaged and present?

When you were in a Zoom or Teams meeting, did you spend most of it staring at another screen? When you went out for lunch, did you spend most of your time on your phone, or did you participate in the conversation? After you got off of work, did you stare at the TV for hours or did you try to do something that has a more full experience like spending time with your family or going for a walk? On your walk, did you stay present in the moment? Not only will being present build better relationships, but being present has also been shown to improve your overall happiness in numerous studies. Life is fuller when you’re present versus spending it jumping from distraction to distraction.

Ready to start filling out your own report card every night? Use this template. Open the link, select File, and then “Make a copy” to start using it as your own.