Create your own
LIFE QUADRANT
TRACKER
A step-by-step guide
to helping you live a more
balanced life.
By Gabrielle Todd
LIFE QUADRANT TRACKER
© 2023 GABRIELLE TODD
Why?
Do you feel like you spend all your time working? Do you
feel like each month rushes by without you dedicating time
to the things you want to? Do you feel like your life isn’t as
fulfilled as it could be?
We are living in a fast-paced modern world where
everything around us is fighting for our attention. It might
be our work, our families or our smartphones… It’s easier
than ever before for the days to pass by without us
dedicating time to the things we want to do. As a result, it’s
easier than ever before to start to feel overworked,
unfulfilled & disconnected from our true purpose.
We don’t have to feel this way!
We need to actively address the things that are important
to us, find time to focus on them & acknowledge that some
months we’ll be better at doing this than others! To help me
do this, I’ve created a Life Quadrant Tracker which I want to
share with you. It allows me to keep track of the different
aspects of my life, helping me to live a life filled with
purpose, happiness & fulfillment.
LIFE QUADRANT TRACKER
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© 2023 GABRIELLE TODD
Why...
I’ve adapted this tracker from a dashboard system used by
the New York Times best-selling author Neil Pasricha who is
an advocate for positivity & simple pleasures. He is best
known for his book “The Happiness Equation” and his TEDx
talk “The 3 A’s of Awesome” which is ranked as the 9th most
inspiring TEDx talk to date.
Let me share it with you!
LIFE QUADRANT TRACKER
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© 2023 GABRIELLE TODD
What?
The Life Quadrant Tracker is a table which divides how I intend to
spend my time each month into 4 sections. Each of these sections
contains things I want to do which have been carefully grouped
together based on a common aim. These aims are as follows:
1.
STRONG CORE
This includes the things I need to do to stay financially afloat aka. the
work I need to do each month in order to earn money. For me this
consists of a mixture of working at least 8 shifts in A&E each month, as
well as spending time working on particular aspects of my other
businesses & handling customer enquiries. This quadrant will look quite
different for someone who’s self-employed (such as my example above) to
someone who’s employed and needs to just meet the requirements of their
employer.
2.
FASTEST LEARNING
This contains the things that I believe I need to be doing to allow me to be
constantly learning & developing as a person. They are inner imperatives
which provide the fuel for everything else, they allow us to expand
ourselves & explore our inner talents. This includes things that force
myself out of my comfort zone. For me this quadrant consists of reading 2
books a month, doing at least 1 challenging out-of comfort zone activity
each month & listening to an educational podcast at least 1 x per week.
This quadrant could include certain hobbies/interests that you’re learning
as examples.
LIFE QUADRANT TRACKER
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© 2023 GABRIELLE TODD
3.
BEST SELF
This includes any self care that I may or may not neglect. They are the
things I need to do to take care or feel better about myself including my
mental, physical & emotional well-being. For me this would include going
to the gym 4 x per week, going for a run in the countryside 1 x per week,
spending a day working in a coffee shop each month.
4.
CONNECTED FAMILY
This contains anything you need to do to remain connected to those
closest around you, including your friends & family. It might be as simple
as 1 x date night with your significant other each week, finding the time
to call a relative each week or organising a certain number of family days
together.
This is what your table should look like:
STRONG CORE
FASTEST LEARNING
BEST SELF
CONNECTED FAMILY
LIFE QUADRANT TRACKER
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© 2023 GABRIELLE TODD
How?
Once you’ve outlined the things you want to cover in your
Life Quadrant Checker you’re ready to start using it. This
checker is not to be used like any other “To Do” list.
It should be acting as a guide to help you monitor your
progress each month, to see which things you’ve stayed on
target with and which you need to dedicate more attention
to, to keep yourself balanced.
Therefore, at the end of each month don’t tick things off
that you have or haven’t completed. Instead, use a coloured
traffic light system where you assign a different colour to
each target. At the end of the month, you can then quickly
see which target(s) or quadrant(s) you’re neglecting and
which you need to try to dedicate more time to. You
probably won’t ever have a month where you’ve achieved
everything!
Green: You’ve clearly achieved something!
Yellow: Done something to a certain extent...
Red: Not done something at all.
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© 2023 GABRIELLE TODD
Here’s an example of what your Life Quadrant Tracker might look
like at the end of the month:
STRONG CORE
FASTEST LEARNING
8 shifts in A&E
Read 2 x books
Handling customer enquiries daily
Listen to podcast 1 x weekly
Creating weekly marketing material
An out of comfort zone activity
BEST SELF
CONNECTED FAMILY
Gym 4 x weekly
A family day/activity
Run outdoors 1 x weekly
Date night 1 x weekly
Work away from home 1 x weekly
A catch up with friends
20 mins writing daily
To remind yourself to review your tracker at the end of each month,
just add a recurring event called ‘Tracker’ to your calendar which is
set to repeat monthly.
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© 2023 GABRIELLE TODD
How...
The aim isn't to judge yourself at the end of each month
when you review your tracker. It’s to see which colours are
dominating each quadrant(s). For example, if your top left
quadrant is all green but another is red then you’re going to
feel unbalanced if you repeatedly let this quadrant
dominate your time. The key with the tracker is it helps you
to notice repeated patterns of your behaviour which you
might not recognise occurring as each week passes by;
however, over time neglecting these quadrants would
accumulate to ultimately result in you becoming
disconnected from your values, goals & happiness.
I find that my Life Quadrant
Tracker helps me to identify
the patches of grass that I’ve
forgotten to water.
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© 2023 GABRIELLE TODD
YOU’RE READY!
You’ve got everything you need to now get started creating
you own Life Quadrant Tracker. You can use the template
I’ve included on the next page (printer-friendly).
Alternatively, you can just draw it out yourself in a notebook
or on a piece of paper.
As I’ve discussed earlier, there will be months when you stay
on track more than others. This doesn’t matter. The key is to
keep referring back to the tracker to keep an idea on your
progress & then make adjustments where you can.
Remember, the contents of your quadrants can change any
time depending on how you want to spend your time.
I’m Elle, a part-time NHS Doctor & a
full-time business owner on a mission to
help others find work-life harmony &
love the life they live. You can follow my
journey on social media & use my
resources available on my website!
!
u
o
y
k
n
Tha
LIFE QUADRANT TRACKER
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elle@gabrielletodd.com
www.gabrielletodd.com
© 2023 GABRIELLE TODD
STRONG CORE
CONNECTED FAMILY
FASTEST LEARNING
MONTH:
BEST SELF