Upglow

I've been an independent developer for more than ten years, and for almost that entire time, I've used Google Sheets to log my days.

It started when I quit my job. Without a company or its systems helping me manage my time, I worried that days would quietly disappear without me knowing where they went.

So I created one sheet for each year. Every day, I recorded what I worked on, how many hours I spent, and any strange technical problems I solved—so I wouldn't have to solve them again six months later.

Eventually, I started recording personal moments too: the day my child learned to walk, a little gift she made for me, and other things I didn't want to forget.

After more than a decade, logging became a habit. Finishing a task and writing it down feels like a tiny reward.

The spreadsheet worked—until it didn't

As the data accumulated, Google Sheets became increasingly awkward.

Browsing years of entries was painful. Keyword search only worked if I remembered the words I'd used. I kept recording things like working hours every day, but almost never analyzed them anymore because I couldn't be bothered to create charts.

Then I realized:

A personal log is basically a stream of timestamped messages.

A database would be much better at storing and analyzing them—but databases are structured, and life isn't.

One moment I might write:

“Worked 3.5 hours on the payment system.”

The next:

“Squat 80 kg, 5 reps 5 sets. Felt easy.”

Or:

“My daughter made me a paper flower today.”

I didn't want to design schemas or fill out forms just to record my life.

Then LLMs changed the equation

As language models improved, I realized I could simply write in natural language and let AI handle the structure.

Instead of filling in separate columns for descriptions, hours, categories, and numbers, I could type:

“Worked 3.5 hours on Upglow today, mostly fixing the timeline UI.”

The AI could understand it, categorize it, extract the numbers, and create statistics automatically.

That idea became Upglow:

The idea is simple:

Write one sentence. Let AI handle the bookkeeping.

I want less friction, not more features

There are already powerful tools like Notion and Obsidian. But I don't want to build a second brain or design the perfect database for my life.

Most of what I record is mundane: what I worked on, what I learned, how long something took, workouts, expenses, bugs I solved, or little moments I don't want to forget.

I just want to write one sentence and move on.

When I come back later, I want everything organized, searchable, and already turned into useful charts.

Interestingly, Upglow has also started replacing other apps for me.

I barely open my workout app anymore. Instead of navigating through screens and forms, I just write:

“Squat 80 kg, 5 reps 5 sets. Felt easy.”

That's enough for Upglow to extract the exercise, weight, sets, and reps and track them over time.

The same thing is starting to happen with my expense tracker, Google Keep, and eventually the Google Sheet that started all of this.

Right now, Upglow has exactly one user

Me.

That's why I'm posting this here.

I know Upglow solves my problem. What I don't know is whether anyone else has the same problem.

Do you keep this kind of personal log—using spreadsheets, Notion, Obsidian, Apple Notes, or something you've built yourself?

And does the idea of “just write what happened and let AI organize the rest” sound useful to you?

I'd love to hear how you currently keep track of the small pieces of your work and life.

https://upglow.today