Why I Made a Physical Tracker for Noticing Moments of Presence
💜 All paid subscribers to Alone Rangers receive a Be Present Tracker Kit for free 💜
Over the past years, writing Alone Rangers, I kept returning to a simple observation.
Most of us value being present. Most of us also find it surprisingly difficult to practise in the middle of ordinary life.
We notice when we’re distracted. When we’re half-listening in a conversation. When we reach for the phone again without thinking.
But noticing the gap doesn’t always translate into changing behaviour.
I began wondering whether a very small daily practice could help close that gap.
Just something simple enough to fit into the rhythm of a normal day.
Whenever I noticed a moment of genuine presence, I marked it.
That might mean staying fully with a conversation, finishing something without drifting, or realising I’d put my phone down and was actually paying attention to what was happening around me.
Each time I noticed one of those moments, I placed a small star on a card.
The interesting part wasn’t the number of stars. It was the pause required to place one.
Over time, the shift isn’t that you suddenly become present all the time. It’s that you notice sooner when you’re not, and return with less judgment.
After sharing this idea with a few friends, I decided to turn the experiment into a small physical kit so others could try it.
The Be Present Tracker Kit includes simple tracker cards, coloured stars, and a few pieces of guidance to get started. Nothing complicated. Just a small ritual for noticing moments that would otherwise pass unnoticed.
I chose to keep it physical on purpose.
Digital tools are excellent at many things, but presence often benefits from a little friction. Standing up, picking up a star, and placing it on a card interrupts momentum just enough to register what’s happened.
If you’re curious about the tracker and want to see how it works, you can explore it here:
👉
https://goodhumantrackers.com/
Small moments, simply recorded.