Ta-Da! I Built a Life Tracker That Won’t Guilt Trip Me.. Or You.
How 4,322 days of meditation led me to build a kinder more joyful life logger.
I like weird goals.
On my 39th birthday, I decided to stop drinking for a whole year. The main reason was novelty, which is my main reason for doing many things. The health benefits were ok. But the real benefits were the surprising side effects.
I started running marathons and I accidentally became a meditator.
With more time and space in my day, and having read so much about the scientific benefits of meditation, I decided I really ought to try. I did try. I started and failed for about four months: starting, stopping, forgetting, feeling guilty, starting again.
Then I found a little app called Meditation Helper Plus. It had nice timers, but more importantly, it had a widget that showed how many days in a row I’d meditated.
I set off with 20 minutes a day. Sure enough, I kept breaking the chain.
So I decided to be kind to myself.
I reduced it to six minutes a day — sitting, walking, lying down — whatever worked as long as it was a minimum of six minutes.
4,528 Days Later
I can now tell you I’m on day 4,528. My four-thousand-five-hundred-and-twenty-eight consecutive day of at least six minutes of meditation. Very often it is more than that, With a small target, everything comes with a bonus.
That small habit lead to multiple two-week retreats where it’s 17 hours a day. But it all began with six minutes. Every day. And a little app that helped me keep track.
Some people call this the Seinfeld Method. Jerry Seinfeld famously kept a big calendar where every day he wrote some jokes, he’d draw a line through. Don’t break the chain. The best things you do are the ones that accumulate in small amounts. The prizes go to those who show up.
It’s great motivation. Until it isn’t.
The Chain That Snapped
Just before lockdown, having helped create a chart-opping song for babies , I decided it was time to improve my own musical abilities. I found a piano teacher. I started practicing every day.
I got up to 400 days in a row.
Then I was away for Easter. I missed a couple of days. The chain snapped.
I haven’t touched my piano in the three years since.
You see, streaks are powerful. But they’re also brittle. Once we miss one thing, we tend to fall away entirely. The tool that motivated me became the thing that made me quit.
What I needed wasn’t a stricter streak counter. I needed something kinder — something that tracked graceful rhythms. Daily chains, yes, but also weekly targets (did you show up 5+ times? No? OK, how about 3+ times, or just once a week). When life gets in the way, don’t show me a zero. Show me the gentler rhythm I’m still keeping. A chain that bends is stronger than one that snaps.
From #TODO to Ta-Da!
I also looked at my to-do list. It had about 100 items on it. Many had been there nine months or more. Repainting my hallway? Probably longer than that.
So I made two decisions:
- No more to-do lists
- Build my own tracker
But here’s the thing: I still wanted to be productive. I still wanted to do things. And I remembered the Cult of Done, this wonderful idea that the more you finish, the more motivated you become to do more. Completing things is its own reward.
So instead of obsessive to-do, I decided to joyfully Ta-Da!.
Celebrate the end of every single thing I’ve done. Notice what I actually did, rather than guilt myself about what I didn’t.
What Started as a Timer Became Something More
I also wanted to capture the other things I’d been imperfectly logging for years:
Dreams. I’ve kept a dream diary for ages, recording vividness and whether dreams were lucid. It’s led to way more lucid dreams.
Magic moments. A resolution from a couple of years ago: notice more serendipity. The traffic lights that turn green. The opportunities that arrive just when you need them. Surprising, delightful moments of joy.
The mindful bits. Living in the present. Celebrating things as they happen rather than fixating on the future.
What was initially a meditation timer had serious mission creep. It became a lifelogger but a kind one. One that counts up, not down. One that bends instead of breaks.
Try It — For Free (- for ever)
It’s called Ta-Da! and you can try it at tada.living.
- 📊 Timeline — Day/Week/Month/Year zoom with infinite scroll
- ⚡ Ta-Da! — Celebrate wins with fanfares and confetti.
- 🪶Moments —Magic, dreams, journalling
- 🧘 Sessions — Timer with interval bells, presets, and warm-up countdown
- 📊 Tallies — Quick count tracking for reps, steps,
- 🌿 Graceful Rhythms — Track natural patterns with multiple chain types (daily, weekly, monthly targets)
It’s pay-what-you-want (including free). It’s a hobby project, not a startup. I made it for me but if it works for you, that’s a bonus. The free version is always free but will only display last year of data. But your data is always there for export and your data stays yours.
If you’ve ever felt guilty about a broken streak, or overwhelmed by your to-do list, or wished an app would celebrate what you did instead of nagging about what you didn’t, maybe Ta-Da! is for you.
Ta-Da! also tracks where you are on the journey: Beginning, Building, Becoming, Being. After 4,528 days, I’m not someone who meditates — I’m a meditator. That’s identity, not just behavior. Meanwhile, with singing, I’m right back at the beginning. And that’s okay. The app celebrates both.
I’m still on day 4,528. The chain continues.
Ta-Da! is an open-source lifelogger for meditation, accomplishments, dreams, and rhythms. Try it free or self-host it yourself.