Color one small square each evening to record your mood, your sleep, or a single habit. Day by day it is a quick ritual. By the end of the year it is a picture of how the year actually went.
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Each option opens a one-page PDF in a new tab. Use your PDF viewer’s Download or Print button, match the paper size, and print at actual size or 100%.
Twelve month columns and 31 day rows on a single portrait page. Dates that don’t exist are already shaded, so you can’t color the wrong square.
A year in pixels is a popular bullet-journal layout: a grid with one square for each day of the year. You choose one thing to record, give each possible value a color, and fill in one square at the end of every day. It takes a few seconds, and after a month or two the colors begin to show patterns, such as better days after exercise or harder weeks at the end of a busy month.
Here is an illustrated example of the first four months of a mood year in pixels:
Illustrated example, not a real person’s data. The run of dark squares in March is the kind of pattern that is easy to see on paper and easy to miss day to day.
Pick one thing per sheet. If you want to track two, print two sheets. Here are keys that work well:
| Track | A five-color key to try |
|---|---|
| Mood | Great · good · okay · low · hard |
| Sleep | Over 8 hours · 7–8 · 6–7 · 5–6 · under 5 |
| Energy | High · steady · average · tired · drained |
| One habit | Done · partly done · planned rest · missed · not planned |
| Exercise | Strength · cardio · walk · stretch · rest |
| Reading | 30+ minutes · 15–30 · under 15 · audiobook · none |
| Screen time | Under 1 hour · 1–2 · 2–3 · 3–4 · 4+ |
For a habit, a year in pixels works best alongside a daily checklist. The 30-day habit tracker helps you start the habit; the year in pixels shows how it held up over months. More ideas are in what habits to track.
Link the sheet to something you already do every evening, such as brushing your teeth or plugging in your phone, and keep a pen next to it. If you miss a few days, fill them in from memory or leave them blank and carry on. A few gaps do not spoil the picture.
Once a month, look at the last few columns and ask what the colors have in common. That review is where a year in pixels becomes useful rather than just pretty. If you notice that one habit lines up with better days, the daily habit guide shows how to make it a regular part of your week.
A printed year in pixels is great for mood and reflection because it sits in front of you. For the habits themselves, Productify’s streak tracking keeps a calendar of completed days on your iPhone and can remind you to check in. Many people use both: the app for the daily check-in, the sheet on the wall for the big picture.
A year in pixels is a grid with one small square for every day of the year. At the end of each day you color the square to record one thing, most often your mood. After a few months, the colors show patterns you would not notice day to day.
Yes. Write the year, start with today’s square, and leave the earlier days blank. The sheet is undated, so you can also run it from any month to the same month next year.
Mood is the most common choice. Sleep quality, energy, exercise, reading, and a single habit such as a daily walk also work well. Pick one thing per sheet so the colors stay easy to read.
Five is plenty. The sheet has five key slots. Shades of a single color, from light to dark, are easier to read than a rainbow and work better for people with color vision deficiency.
Fill it in from memory if you can, or leave it blank. A blank square is still information. Tie the sheet to something you already do each evening, such as brushing your teeth, to make it easier to remember.
Yes. Download and print it for personal use. No email address, account, payment, or app is required.
More free resources: the 30-day habit tracker, the habit streak calculator, and all free habit tools.
