Creating and maintaining better habits is a key part of your self-improvement journey. This is why you should use a habit tracker. They can be used to keep track of not just habits you are trying to start, but those that you want to end too.
Keeping track of certain habits makes it so much easier to stick with them for a longer period too. Cause let’s face it – if you don’t remember if you did a task or habit each day you’re more likely to fall off the wagon with keeping them up.
For a long time, I tried to make sure I did certain things each day. But there were days that I would forget or get distracted by something and stop doing them.
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I found that writing a checklist for the week or month would keep me more focused on whether I did or didn’t do something.
Then I found out about habit trackers and it was a total game-changer for me. You just plug in the habit or activity you want to track and make a mark for each day you completed it.
Over in the Shannon’s Thoughts Shop on Etsy, we have several different types of Habit Trackers available. They are easy to just print and use.
Different types of Habits to Track
There is no limit to the types of habits that you can keep track of. But I would advise keeping the list short to start with. If you try to do too many things at once you will most likely not do anything at all. And keeping track of a lot of different habits is just plain hard to do.
Some things that you can use a habit tracker for are:
1.Exercising
2. Reading each day
3.Drink 8 glasses of water
4. Bedtime/ Wake-up Time
5. No Spend days
6. Daily Medications/ Vitamins
7. No Soda/ Alcohol / Junk Food
8. Eating Fruits/Veggies
9. Daily Yoga
10. Daily Meditation
11. Journaling
12. Add to Savings
13. New skills
14. Skin-care Routines
15. Mood Each Day (use a different color for different moods)
Again the point behind a habit tracker is to keep up with some of the habits you forget to do sometimes. Or when you are adding new habits or chores to your normal lists.
They are really such a great way to remind yourself of the things that you need to be doing on a daily/weekly basis. And it’s easier to keep track of everything if you use one.
Related Reading: Self-Care Night Routine and Ways to Get Motivated in the Morning
Reasons a Habit Tracker is Useful
Of course, the main reason to use a habit tracker is to, well, track your habits.
But they are good for a few other reasons too.
- Hold yourself accountable
Filling in your habit tracker keeps you accountable for the things you want/need to do each day. When you fill in (or don’t fill) a box you know what you have done each day/week/month.
It makes it easy to see if you are keeping to the things that you want to. And it can show you if your goals are easy to reach or unrealistic right then.
- Keep accurate track of everything
Used correctly they can help you keep track of what is working and what may need to be tweaked a bit. Since you can pick and choose what habits you log, you can put the highest priority ones at the top.
- They are easy to print and use
You can find habit trackers just about anywhere or you can draw your own. It’s entirely up to you. They come in different sizes and themes so you can choose one that speaks the most to you. The reason you want to choose one that resonates with you is that you’re more likely to use it if you like the look. I suggest purchasing one. Because you’re more inclined to use something that you paid even a few dollars for vs. something that was free.
- Use to break bad habits
One of the best things to track is habits that you want to break. If you smoke you can put in “had less than x cigarettes today” as something you want to keep track of. The same for junk food, alcohol, etc. Days that you didn’t have that thing would get a check an X or the box colored. That way at the end of the week or month you can track your progress.
- Keep track of chores
Chores that you do daily, weekly or monthly can be tracked too. There are many times that I forget when the last time I did certain chores because I forgot to write them down. But if I put them on my habit tracker, I know exactly when they were done and when they need to be done again.
Types of Habit Tracker
Just like there are many habits to track, there are different types of habit trackers. You can get daily, monthly, or weekly trackers depending on how you plan to use them.
Daily trackers are used to keep up with things you want to do each day and might have trouble keeping up with.
Monthly trackers are for more long-term use. They are best for things you want a monthly habit log of that you can easily look at to see what is working and what is not.
Weekly trackers are a mix of the two. These are things you want/need to do every week like chores or even work that you need to do each week.
Just make sure to pick the ones that are best for what your goals are. So that you can easily keep track of everything.
Commit to Better Habits
The main point behind using a habit tracker is to help you commit to better habits or to break old bad habits. They are most useful when you use them consistently and commit to using them every day that you need to.
Experts say it takes different people different amounts of time before a new habit takes hold or an old one is broken. It depends on the type of habit and your commitment to change. But if you use something to track them it is much easier to get them to stick.
Final Thoughts
No matter how you use your tracker, you have to use it every day. Once you do it will become second nature to check things off each day so you can track your progress.
Once you become more comfortable with doing things every day you can add new things to the list if you want to.
Habit trackers just make it easier to keep up with everything since we are usually busy and juggling a jillion things all the time.
Don’t forget to grab your free list of journal prompts!