The Life Timeline
Your life timeline gives you an easy way to see your life history and use this information in a variety of formats.
What is a Life Timeline and Why Do I Need One?
A life timeline is simply that — a timeline of the events and milestones you consider important in your life. You can keep your life timeline in analog or digital formats.
Your life timeline will come in handy in many places. Do you ever ask yourself things like...
What year did we…?
Did we stop in Yellowstone when we went to … ?
Have you ever had these types of conversations? If so, then a life timeline is for you.
A regularly maintained Life Timeline can make it easy to fill in a resume, complete forms, and more. You can even use it as a tool for writing your own memoir. Most importantly, it can serve as a treasure trove for recalling happy memories.
Keeping Your Timeline
Analog options: A notebook and pen will work fine if you like analog. Start by dedicating one year per page/spread and then add events to their respective pages. The Jibun Techo Life Book (typically available on jetpens.com for U.S. Residents) is a pretty, pre-formatted life timeline. (Note, the type even in the larger version is pretty small for aging eyes). Bullet Journalers (or BuJo’ers for those in the know), your monthly log could also serve this purpose — simply highlight items that you feel reach the level of Life Timeline and migrate them to a Life Timeline collection.
Digital options: A simple document is a good starting point. Whether it’s word, google docs, or even a text file, start with the current year, begin adding months and add a new line by date. So, for instance:
2022
January
3 — adopted a puppy (Barney) from the local humane society
6 — kids started back to school following the holiday break
As you build your own process for updating the document, you'll discover the right level of detail for you. Someone who adds to their timeline monthly might go into this level of detail. At the end of the year you could take out things that likely aren't relevant in five years — like the day the kids started back to school following the holiday break. There is no right or wrong way to do this. You make your own rules.