Is A Bingo Card The Tracking Method For Me?
Chapter 5
So I sat down at my desk with my AI 3-Pronged Approach outline, my new book club membership, and my commitment to my walking group, and replayed the podcast in my mind. Could a Bingo card help me stay on track?
I wasn’t sure, but I decided to give it a try even if it was a little whimsical. The great thing about Bingo is that it has 25 spaces on a card, which makes it perfect for listing and tracking 25 things in 2025. It even has a “Free Space” in the middle. Yay! I only had to come up with 24 items to fill the other slots.
Using my beginner's knowledge of Canva, I created a Bingo card. Instead of B-I-N-G-O across the top, I have R-E-N-E-W, which stands for Renew, Engage, Network, Embrace, and Work It! I’m following AI’s suggestions and giving my best effort.
Now I had to create the 25 (24, since I get one free space 😊) things. It took me over a week to fill in 21 spaces. I’ll be honest, I still have 3 blanks. However, I set about completing these 21 items with gusto.
Here is my to-do list for 2025:
Renew: 1. Read two books per month 2. Give my kitchen a facelift, 3. Get a facial or other self-care item once a month 4. Organize Digital Photo Archives and 5. an unfilled square ☹
Engage: 1. Choose between Website, Flickr, or Substack 2. Make a Day / Short Trip 1x / month 3. Visit a museum 1x / month 4. Continue learning Italian 5. Improve my photography skills.
Network: 1. Join the Book Club 2. Speak Live in My Goal Group 3. Free Space! 4. Make one new friend. 5 an unfilled square ☹
Embrace: 1. Reconnect with old friends 2. Movie Night (in or out) 1x/ week 3. Spring Holiday (travel to Greece and Italy) 4. an unfilled square ☹ 5. Fall Holiday (Undecided at first, but more to come on this later.)
Work It: 1. Walk 10,000 steps per day 2. 90% consistency with tracking (I’ll explain this more later) 3. Lose 3 lbs per month 4. Stick to a daily routine 5. Meditate 3x / month
Wow, that sounds like a lot when you write it all out. However, I added items to the queue that I had already sourced or signed up for.
For example, join the book club ... done! We hadn’t met yet, but I was already communicating and involved. Read two books each month. I consider myself a writer, and all writers enjoy reading, so this will be an easy goal to achieve. And it fits in well with the book club!
We had already planned our vacation to Greece and Italy, so I knew I would be going. However, there were still some things to finalize before we left.
So much for the easy part; the real challenge will be sticking to a daily routine, fitting in, or pushing myself to do things that require more outgoing behavior. Can I walk 10,000 steps a day, learn Italian, or meditate three times a week? These, along with the other items on my list, will be more difficult. It was only January, and even the most dedicated resolution-makers often give up on their resolutions before the month is over.
These first five chapters have mainly been historical to update you (my audience). I felt that to understand my stream of consciousness from now on, you would want to know how and why I am here.
Now we fast-forward to Live Posts!