If you’re a follower of this blog, I’m going to assume you make lots of goals. You may focus every day on improving your productivity or accomplishing your daily tasks. However, if you don’t track your habits, you’ll never see the success you’re having. You’ll soon get frustrated, looking back but not really seeing how far you’ve come. You might even give up if you go too long without seeing any progress.
Tracking is as essential to a goal as any other part of the process. Yep, even working on the goal. Because without tracking, you’re more likely to give up.
Now, not every tracker is equal. To be an effective tracker, it needs these four traits:
- It is something you will look at daily, if not, multiple times each day. This might mean it needs to be simple, or it might mean you should decorate it a little to make it more fun.
- It is simple enough to see how well you are doing if you only look at it for two seconds.
- It measures specific habits so you know exactly whether you have accomplished it that day.
- It is motivating.
I’ve tested out plenty of methods for tracking habits. I’ll share some ways that work for me and others that work for different people. Try out a few, and let me know which is your favorite.
Bullet journal spreads
My favorite way to track habits is in my bullet journal. I’ve used a planner for years, and it’s something I look at all the time throughout the day. Each time I look, I’m reminded of habits I am working on building. I’m always more likely to do that habit when I’m constantly reminded of it.
Here is one example of a way I’ve tracked habits in the past.
Because I tend to only look at my current week, breaking up the habits by week helps me actually look at it more often (and not turn into a half-empty spread like sometimes happens…) because I’m already referencing my to-do list right below it throughout the day. It is also simple enough to set up easily each week.
Here is another example of a habit tracker.
This is a new way I have started tracking my habits. It takes a couple more seconds to track because I’m always forgetting which day it is, but aesthetically, I love staring at it. As well, it will be easier to see which habits I did best at rather than noticing which days I struggled like the last spread focuses more on.
Whichever way you choose to track your habits, be sure you love looking at them.
Digital trackers
If you’re someone who spends a lot of time on your phone, finding a habit tracker app may be the best route for you. There are tons of free apps or widgets you can use. I like the gamified tracker, Habitica. You could also try Habit Tracker by App Holdings or Repeat Habit by Nelzkie Labs. Honestly, just look up “habit tracker” in your app store, and you’ll find tons. Don’t stress about finding the perfect one, or you may get lost in the depths of the app store forever.
You can also set a reminder on your phone to go off each day so you remember to complete or track your habit. I personally prefer a physical object to help me track my habit because I get easily lost in the digital clutter. However, it may work for other personality types.
Goal journal
If you have a rather large goal, you might consider starting a small notebook for all your thoughts. Add a page to track your goals like you can see above in the bullet journal spreads. Add this page at the front, or use washi tape or a bookmark to easily reference it.
Morning pages
Each morning, I work to fill a full page with any lingering thoughts from the day before to clear my mind for the day. Julia Cameron came up with the process of clearing the mind for increased creativity, however, she recommends three pages. I write small, and one page works well for me each morning.
You can use this method to assess each morning for a sentence or two how your goals are going. You could draw a small checkbox at the top of the page for each habit you wanted to accomplish. You could even do this in a normal journal you have, though morning pages work well because the practice should be completed daily.
Sticky notes
Sometimes, the best way to do anything is the simplest way. Grab a scrap of paper or sticky note and write numbers for each day of the current month with a heading stating what habit you are tracking. Stick it somewhere you will look at it every day, like by your nightstand or desk. Each day, cross out the number for that day if you completed it. This is a simple way to trick your mind using a don’t-break-the-chain method.
Make this more interesting by coloring a symbol (like a heart, book, music note, etc.) for each day instead of crossing out a number. Then again, keeping it minimalistic is great too. This works best for tracking one or two habits.
I’ve listed a few of my favorite ways to track habits, but there are endless ways to track habits. The important thing is that the tracker is something you will update each day and motivates you. What other methods have worked for you?
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