Elementor #432 – Record Breaker

Instructions for the Operations Matrix

Get Started
- Go to https://recordbreaker.com.au/opsmatrix/ and select “Get the Ops Matrix” to make your own copy in google drive
- Go to one of the week tabs and enter your starting date for the week in cell B1
- Enter the items you want to track
Entering results
- For starters, just use “Yes” and “No” to keep things simple while you find your way around. The other options provide extra functionality and are explained in more detail later. Update the ietms as you do them, or set aside time to do them throughout the day
End of Week
- At the end of the week, simply duplicate the current week, and rename it to whatever name you choose. eg. “Week 3”
- Remove all the data on the new sheet by selecting it all and deleting it.
Display tabs
- These tabs are for sharing with others, or setting up your own display screen in your home of workplace.
- Select the tab, go to File -> Publish and you can publish that particular tab for public viewing. This will give you a link you can share with others.
- If you are tracking personal items, you may want some privacy, especially if you still want to have the board on display to keep you motivated. To display your matrix without displaying the item headings, publish the 2 week hidden display tab only. An option has been provided to display 2 weeks at once with headings as well.
- To have your display tabs show the correct info, ensure that the name of the tab is in the appropriate cell. On the hidden display, these cells are A1 and J1. On the shown display these cells are A1 and K1
That’s it!
- Now if you are keen, you can set up a dedicated screen around the home or office for showing your operations matrix. Just use the published links and you are good to go.

Extra Info, Tips and Tricks

Tracking Options
- Yes: Use this when you have completed a task
- Half: Use this for those edge cases, where it feels unfair to give yourself a “No”, but it isn’t quite a “Yes” either. Also useful if you cannot remember if you did a task or not, which is another good reason to fill in the matrix regularly
- No: Use this when you have not completed the task
- Credit: Credits provide you with a huge a mount of flexibility with your operations. For example, you can make a task due on Wednesdays, or on the 15th of the month, or 1/2 days etc, you will want to mark the day you actually did the activity with a “Yes”. This will earn you credit for the other days when you are not required to complete the activity.
  - Example: Exercise 1/3 days
    - Day 1 = “Yes”
    - Day 2 = “Credit”
    - Day 3 = “Credit”
    - Day 4 = No more credits, so enter a value as normal
- n/a: This is used on days when you do not want to track this item at all. For example, some tasks you may only want to track on work days. In this case, just mark your days off with the “n/a”. Also useful when you are adding a new item to track midway through the week.
Undestanding the percentages
- For simple “Yes” and “No” tasks, the average scores are exactly as you would expect.
- When using the value of “Half”, this is essentially counted as a “No”.
- When using “Credit” and “n/a”, these will affect the percentage scores, but a little differently than you might expect. They are not counted as a “Yes”, but they are subtracted from the denominator. This is done to give even weighting to tasks that are done every day and tasks that are done 1/7 days (for example)
Flexible tracking
- You can use the credits and other tracking options any way you want. To make a note of this, simply put some sort of text to remind you in the task name. Here are some ideas.
  - 1/2 = complete this item 1 out of 2 days
  - w = only complete this item on work days
  - a = only complete this item when you are travelling
  - o = only complete this item on days when you are in the office
  - f = only complete this item on days when you are in the field or on site
  - 3rd = only complete this item on the 3rd of each month
  - mwf = complete this task on Monday, Wednesday and Friday
  - etc. You can come up with anything you want here. That is one of the great advantages of the ops matrix, is that it is flexible and easy to adjust on the fly.
- The advantage of flexible tracking
  - It is often the case that when we set a goal to stick to some kind of routine, we don’t really take into account all the other things that we have already committed to. The operations matrix makes all of this visible, and when you inevitably realise that you can’t complete 100 tasks every day, you start to adjust and optimise the routine.
  - The matrix gives you the feedback you need to make the right adjustments. When working out everyday isn’t happening, but you can see you are able to get 2 workouts done most weeks, adjust the task to reflect this, or instead of a full workout, try just one exercise. Keep adjusting your operations until you are able to get good results consistently.
- Flexible targets
  - Ideally, we are hitting 90-100% of our operations every day, but maybe not… For example… On our days off, sure we want to exercise and be productive etc, but we also want to recharge and enjoy ourselves. Something like exercise can be done on a work day and on a day off, so what to do? Well we don’t want to cut ourselves any slack on a workday, so we set the goal at 100% for work days. But for days off we can make the target 70%, or 50% or some other percentage that will still include plenty of wins. Again, this is the beauty of the matrix. You are in control of your operations and your goals, this just gives you a method to optimise them.
Why all the green?
- Because tracking is winning. Every time you enter a “yes” into the matrix, that is a win. Also, every time you enter a “no” into the matrix, that is also a win.
- If the item is on your operations matrix, it is because you think it is important. By measuring and coming to terms with your current success rate, this is a win, because now you can set an achievable goal for the future.