My digital daily planner: a sheet, a script, and a column per day

2023.09.30

In grade school, I used a paper “binder reminder” for my daily tasks. After that, I wanted a digital system. I tried Gantt charts, GTD, Asana, Notion, Emacs org mode, Roam. None of it worked better than the binder reminder, so I started with a simple spreadsheet and turned it into a planner that scrolls horizontally through a calendar and vertically through goals. I call it “Projectory”—a projection of the trajectory of my projects.

A snapshot of my personal project management spreadsheet.

rows represent goals

I previously outlined these goals in my life plan (my Archiridion), and I realized I wanted a more structured way to outline tasks within goals each day. Some of these goals are also categories for sub-goals.

A few fun examples:

• Abod: Regarding my body and abode.
• Treadger: A ledger of my treasure; digital records, and records of the location of physical objects.
• Quand If I: My take on the quantified self.
• Optimel: Managing time optimally.

columns represent days

I have the columns colored to represent days’ salience in my mind. Today is clearest, and the further a day is from today, the more obscure it is. By my observations, salience is likely logarithmic rather than linear; for example, I can easily distinguish today and yesterday, but events from yesterday seem more proximate to the day before than to today.

For now, I’ve decided I want to train my mind to have a four-day range of salience in either direction of today (including today). So, on any given day, the column for day 0 (today) is white, the ±1 days (yesterday and tomorrow) are gray, the ±2 days (ereyesterday and overmorrow) are a darker gray, and the ±3 days (foreyesterday and aftermorrow, perhaps) are a gray darker than that. Beyond those are the darkest gray.

I achieve this coloration with conditional formatting:

• Darken and bold weekends (I include Friday)
  Custom formula: =weekday(A1,1)>=>5
  Apply to row 1
• Make today white
  Custom formula: =A$1=TODAY()
  Apply to whole sheet
• Make yesterday gray
  Custom formula: =A$1=(TODAY()-1)
  Apply to whole sheet
• Make tomorrow gray
  Custom formula: =A$1=(TODAY()+1)
  Apply to whole sheet
• Make the project column (column A) white
  Format cells if: Is not equal to -
  Apply to column A
• Make everything beyond ±3 days darkest gray
  Custom formula: =A1<>TODAY()
  Apply to whole sheet

moving along the days

All columns older than three days ago are hidden by a script, which I adapted from this script:

function processProjectorySimplified() {
    var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();

    var now = new Date(); // today
    var reach = 3; // span of number of days ago and ahead I want to keep salient; 3 days ago is foreyesterday
    var hideThroughDate = new Date(now);
    hideThroughDate.setDate(now.getDate() - reach - 1); // plan to hide through day before reach date, show from reach date onward

    // Create an array of arrays of the date cells and their dates
    var cellDates = sheet.getSheetValues(1, 2, 1, sheet.getLastColumn()); // All dates in the spreadsheet in row 1

    // Find the index for the day just before the start day.
    // Starting from the left, inspect each item in cellDates and see whether it's the start day.
    var hideThroughCol = 0; // number of columns to hide
    while(hideThroughCol++ <= sheet.getLastColumn()) {
        var then = new Date(cellDates[0][hideThroughCol]); // then is this

        // if equal to hideThroughDate
        if(then >= hideThroughDate) {
        break;
        }
    }

    // Bounds check
    if(hideThroughCol > sheet.getLastColumn()) return;

    // Hide all date columns through hideThroughDate
    sheet.hideColumn(sheet.getRange(1, 2, 1, hideThroughCol)); // row 1, column B, for one row, for number of columns defined by hideThroughCol

    // 2021.08.28 set text wrapping to clip for days before today
    var lastFewDays = sheet.getRange(1, hideThroughCol+1, sheet.getLastRow(), reach+1); // add 1 to hideThroughCol to push past project column (column A); add 1 to reach to include last column hidden
    lastFewDays.setWrapStrategy(SpreadsheetApp.WrapStrategy.CLIP);

    Logger.log("Yay!");
}

Old tasks don’t carry over. This is by design; if I don’t specifically carry a task over, it drifts away rather than cluttering my days.

more notes

• The main tab of Projectory is called “Timetrix” (time matrix). If I no longer prioritize a row, I put it in a tab called “Cryoritized” (deprioritized and put in cryo).
• I started this spreadsheet almost four years ago, in January of 2021. The sheet became slow, so now I’m archiving each quarter, whose limits I’ve defined by solstices and equinoxes. To make solstices and equinoxes teal, I compare dates to those in a sheet called Solinoxes:
  Custom formula: =MATCH(A$1,INDIRECT("Solinoxes!A1:A"),0)
  I hav​​e two of these entries, one of which makes the date bold and italicized.
• Eventually, I want to make a better way to collect today’s tasks and easily see them on my phone.

On 2021.05.07, I wrote in my Archiridion that I wanted to write a blog post about my project management spreadsheet. More than two years later, I’ve finally written it! Logger.log(“Yay!);

like my work?

I appreciate support of any kind, whether that’s sharing this page, telling me what you thought, or treating me to something yummy:

Venmo: @aubrie

PayPal: aubrieality

Ko-fi: