Are you tired of struggling to stick to your daily routine? Well, here's the secret weapon you've been waiting for: Habit Trackers! These little wonders are tailor-made to crush your goals. Habits are the building blocks of success. And tracking them? It's a game-changer!

What are Habit Trackers? 

So, what are Habit Trackers? It’s exactly what the name suggest, a way of logging multiple tasks or habits. I’m a huge true crime fan, so picture this: they're like your personal behavior detectives, logging and tracking your tasks to reveal patterns and insights, to solve the mystery of how to FINALLY create that habit. It's like watching forensic files, and seeing the obvious patterns that prove that husband is guilty. It is a secret agent for your habits! 

Do Habit Trackers Actually Work?

Short answer is yes! By diligently tracking your habits and behavior patterns it will remind you in smaller increments to review if you have completed the task/goal/habit regularly. (i.e. daily, weekly, etc.). And guess what? By following routine-based and time-based cues, you'll increase your chances of forming rock-solid habits over time. It's all about setting yourself up for success! It simply makes it feel more abatable.

Using a habit tracker is more intentional by working to set one habit of actually checking your habit tracker daily (Start the habit, to check your habits, so you can form a habit, of forming habits. Is that a tautology? Or did I just take the red pill? ) The point is, you will be on “autopilot” and you can leverage that to achieve all the habits on your list.

And, it’s all too easy to “guesstimate” how you did, but with the tracker, you are more precise, almost scientific proof. It’s real data that you can use to make real change.

Why Habit Track?

Let's talk benefits, because there are plenty.

✨ Develop better habits that stick

✨ Provide visual feedback to nudge you to take action

✨ Boost mental clarity and it keeps you focused

✨ Channel your competitive spirit to achieve desired habits (Aries, unite! LOL)

✨ It honestly is a boost of confidence to get things done

✨ Kick stress to the curb by consolidating tasks into one simple tracker

✨ Increase productivity and slay your goals

✨ Save oodles of time

Types of Habit Trackers?

Well, there are a few options to discuss here. The first and obvious one (if you have ever visited my blog before) is bullet planning and journaling. You commonly see habit trackers as a central theme in many people’s bullet journal, but you don’t have to bullet journal to use one.

A good habit tracker can come in many forms, from a sophisticated app to a sheet of paper and a pen. The essential elements of a habit tracker are just the habits you want to track, how long you want to track them, all in one location to check them off. As long as those basic elements are in place, you will be able to make huge changes to your habits. 

So besides journals or notepad and pen, there are more and more digital options these days, downloadable PDF’s, you can use a dry erase board on the fridge, etc. You get the point.

What are the best Habit Trackers?

Well, the best is the one that works for you and fits into your normal routine and lifestyle. It should be easy to update and fit in with the way you already do things. After all, what good is a habit tracker if you never use it?

🤍If you already keep your to do list in your eyes view daily, keep your habit tracker there.

🤍If you journal at night keep it in your journal folded up.

🤍Put it on the fridge if you need to see it at the end of the day when preparing dinner

🤍put it on the mirror of your bathroom if you need to review it when you wake up.

🤍If you already bullet journal or have a planner, do a spread there

Now, habit trackers are used for measuring both short and long term goals.

Daily Trackers

This is overwhelming for me on paper (I use an app for daily), but if you are someone who keeps a physical daily “to do list”, then these little tracker is perfect to add to that daily page. As you look at it throughout the day you get several cues to stay on top of your habits.

Weekly Trackers

This is sort of the the goldilocks of manageable steps and goals IMHO. It’s long enough to see if you should continue tracking a habit. (If it doesn’t serve you get rid of it). But it’s short enough time span to get into the habit of doing the tracker with out the overwhelm.

You can download our free weekly tracker here

Monthly Trackers

This is more to see a pattern of sustainable habits. It is still short-term(ish) but sustainable to complete. I often  use these at the end of each week to transfer my data/logs on to it just to see the overall patten.

You can download our free monthly tracker here

Yearly Trackers

Oh boy! Good luck with these. I have seen them floating around on the internet but never used one. This one is a commitment, but that doesn’t mean it won’t serve you. This is also a good one to log other trackers onto once a month, again, just to see overall patterns. 

WHAT CAN I TRACK?

Habit tracking is very personal and it’s flexible. It does not have to be super solid, but has to be tangible.Here are some of our ideas: (also, don’t do all the things, start small)

1. Things you want to do more often

Some examples: Drink water, get enough sleep, remember to take vitamins, mindful meditation or daily prayer, exercise, weekly phone calls with loved ones, random compliments or acts of kindness, eat more veggies.

2. Things you want to limit

Some examples: not using your phone before you sleep, cooking instead of eating out, leave work on time instead of getting caught in a task, bad habits such as smoking, too much alcohol, sugar, soda, caffeine, etc., less hours on time wasters (insert Reddit or TikTok here for me - I can zap away hours in no time if I am not careful)

3. Tasks I want to complete daily

Some examples: make the bed, floss my teeth, read each day, daily stretching or yoga, water plants, Tasks or your pet - such as walk for exercise, not just quick potty walks, Family dinners and conversations,

4. New skills

Some examples: Learn a new language, learn to play an instrument, learn to draw or paint, commit to trying meatless Mondays, Learn to code, learn photoshop, Learn to make jewelry, gardening

5. Self-care of course!

Some examples: Daily gratitude or mantra, health and wellness goals, weekly phone calls with loved ones, go outside for fresh air daily, Schedule “me time” for a hobby you don’t do often enough

If you haven’t allotted time for yourself in a while, schedule it in your planner so you won’t forget.(I have a an article on this here.)

6. For Knowledge

Some examples: What books you read, listened to a podcast, symptoms you experience if sick or period trackers, sexual health with a spouse, watched a documentary, financial goals or “no money spent” days

7. Timed tasks

Some examples: Leave work on time by 5pm, Go to sleep by 11pm, Pay bills on the 15th,  keep an empty inbox at the end of the day, wake up on time

8. Projects

Some examples:  Home renovations, work projects, school project, write a book

NO!... Do not. I repeat do NOT go off and complete all the examples above. These are meant to inspire your ideas. 2-6 goals is a good starting point. And yes, I said TWO✌🏼. Forming two actual habit that stick is better than doing all the things you wan to do, giving up, and forming ZERO habits. Prioritize, divide and conquer over time.

Best practices:

Be organized

I know, duh! But, I have to say it, keep your tracker organized. This is not the page to go crazy with decoration if you are doing a bullet journal. Straight edges and tidy graphs work best.

Also, make tracking clear. If your tracker has goals that are more than a simple yes or no/checkmark then use colors or symbols that are easy to understand, and fast to register. Be sure to create a key that describes what each symbol and color means.

Be Flexible

What I’ve found is that it’s hard to stick to habits that are too strict or specific (This includes those habits where you’re being too hard on yourself) you often won’t stick to the actual tracker. And that defeats the whole point right there.

Review your goals and adjust them as you go along, so they become more achievable, or remove a goal entirely if it no longer suits your needs. Recognize if your intentions were too ambitious. …which leads me to the next VERY important tip…

Break Up Large Goals

ALWAYS break down large goals and habits into smaller manageable ones. This is the key to success. If you are overwhelmed or try to do all the things all at once, you will quit.

Where possible, put short time limits to trick your brain. I can convince myself I don’t have any time to do my habits if I think of them as a whole, but it’s pretty tough to convince myself that I can’t spare 10 minutes for one habit.  When a goal is such a small amount of time, it’s a lot less intimidating to get started.

After doing 10 minutes for a month, you increase it to say 15 minutes. It’s a lot easier to say, well it’s only 5 more minutes and I’ve been keeping up with 10. This time trickery can be magic! (It’s also how I quit smoking years ago, but that’s another story for another day - this “trick yourself” method works.)

Reward yourself

Again, another great mind trick. Set goals and give yourself rewards or pat on the back, But beyond those physical rewards, take the time to look back and see the growth over time. It feels so freaking good.

Choose the right habits

Tracking habits is a game changer and an AWESOME goal… but be sure you are choosing ones that are helpful. If you choose the wrong goal it can lead you to focus on the wrong things or reason.

You are tracking tasks, but not modifying the behavior it can actually lead to negative reinforcement.

Remember the purpose of the Tracker

Even if you don’t manage to complete your goal, you can learn from the experience.

It is NOT ABOUT PERFECTION. I say that again, It👏🏼 is👏🏼not👏🏼about👏🏼 perfection👏🏼. I was raised in the south and that phrase is on repeat, as I unlearn that bad habit from childhood. We seem to have a strange standard to be perfect. Dont focus on the act itself and achieving perfection, so much so, that you loose site of the purpose to simple strive to be better.

If you get obsessive, take a step back. I’ve skipped a day before on purpose (I know sounds counter productive) but I needed that because I was neglecting other important things in my day at the risk of “missing one checkbox”. This is meant to make you better, not worse. Habit trackers are about striving to be better. Period.

They are meant to be positive. If you are going to a negative place, step back and remember the goals and purpose of those goals. If you complete it, give yourself a pat on the back. If you miss a day, give yourself a pep talk and keep the goals positive.

BONUS: What is best habit tracker for iPhone or device?

I use this one. It’s the only one I have ever used and while I am not an expert on this, the few I tired tended to overcomplicate things. (Did you see all my best practices about keeping is small and simple). This app is exactly that- a simple habit tracker. I use it to log habit on the go, then I transfer them to my paper tracker when I have the chance. Using both seems to be my happy place

Is it a free habit tracking app? Sure is. I have used the free one for over a year, and just recently upgraded because honestly it’s super cheap anyway for the paid version and I wanted the more decorative pretty graphics.

Check back later this month for my Habit Tracker Tool Roundup! Which of course will feature my favorite tool for ALL things, washi tape.

And don’t forget to download your FREE habit tracker here. Just add to cart and it will be delivered to your email.