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At the beginning of a new year, the question at the forefront of my mind is: “How can I simplify my life?” The question can come in many forms: “How can I be less busy?” or “What do we need to stop doing for life to be more sustainable?”. At the heart of these questions is a desire to enjoy life and be more. present in the here and now.
It was these thoughts buzzing in my mind that led me to start using them pissan app that allows you to log your life in pixels and see an overview of your year. I knew that before I could make any changes, I needed to understand how I was doing and what it was giving me. Pixa helped me do exactly that.
Pixa allows you to create custom logs by changing titles, keywords and colors. It can be used to track a wide range of different things, including exercise, physical health, anxiety levels, periods, or anything else you can think of.
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This is part of a regular series of articles exploring the apps we can’t live without. Read them all here.
You won’t find a simpler app to use, although I think the beauty of the app is in its simplicity. Let’s dive deeper into the features of the app and how you can integrate it into your life.
After downloading the app, the first thing to do is to set up your first log. Before you head into the deep end, take a few minutes to think about what you want to follow and why. Unless it’s something that really improves your life, then it’s unlikely to last more than a few weeks.
Once you have set it straight in your mind, click on the + button. Pixa will automatically create a new log called “my log”. Jump into it, select the three dots, and choose “edit my log”. Change the name to something more meaningful. With that set, choose the + button on the right side of the log. This is where you can create your key. Give each one a name and a color. For example, if you are tracking anxiety levels, then the key could be made up of items like “high”, “medium”, “low” and “none”.
Now it’s log time. Pixa only allows you to add one label per day, so keeping your logo on top is super easy. You can do this by pressing a block of days, followed by selecting from your default key. It will be added and immediately visible. Any changes to the colors of your key elements will also be automatically updated in your logo.
This process of creating and populating logs can be done in many areas of your life, assuming you have paid for a premium subscription. The free version is limited to two logs.
The real joy of Pixa comes once you’ve done a significant amount of logging. I’ve found that getting at least a month of data is necessary before Pixa starts to become useful. With enough data, Pixa helps you discover trends and see if you’ve improved in the areas you want. I’ve found it particularly useful to see how much exercise I’m doing and how much I’m doing of different types, including soccer, running and walking. I like to get a good spread and Pixa helps with that.
These trends can be seen more easily with the built-in bar and pie charts, which take your entered data and present it graphically. These are only available in the premium version, but they are really useful for giving a quick overview.
I love using Pixa. It takes just a minute of my time each day, and yet provides invaluable metrics to help me achieve my goals. This year, I am waiting to follow what fills my life and, in time, cut a few things. I believe this will help me be less distracted and more present.
Pixa is available on iOS and Android devices, with the free version limited to two logs. If you want access to an unlimited number of logs, bar graph and pie chart statistics, as well as the ability to duplicate logs, then you need a premium subscription. This costs $1.99/99p per month or a one-off lifetime fee of $25/£19.99.
