To Track or Not To Track?

Let’s talk habit trackers. I never really use them but felt inspired by a few beautiful ones I’d seen on pinterest and wanted an excuse to create a new spread. Habits are hard to stick to at the best of times, so in the middle of a pandemic lockdown, is it really a good idea to put pressure on yourself even more to live a healthier lifestyle? Or is now the perfect time to out with the old and in with the new patterns of behaviour? I’m going to put it to the test!

Habit trackers are common features in many journals and they can take a variety of forms. Here I have written down 8 mini calendars with a different ‘habit heading’ for each. The idea is that for every day that you follow that habit, you colour in the date. This way you can reflect at the end of the month really easily by having a very clear visual representation of the behaviours you followed, and those you didn’t! You can see a video below of how I set my habit tracker up, and I’d love to see your own versions so link them to me in the comments.

I found lockdown number 1 very challenging. I was not living in my own home and we had really limited space. Whilst it was a lot of fun, sharing a kitchen with 5 other people can get a bit overcrowded. I soon developed unhealthy habits, and coupled with the hot weather, was not exercising too much either. So I decided to pinpoint things that benefit both my mental and physical health this time round, and try to keep more of a record of them. This includes activities such as going for walks, and cooking fresh and healthy meals for myself. I hope that this will help to motivate me to ditch some of the negative and self-destructive behaviour I fell into back in the Summer.

As well as this, I have recently gone full time with my business. This means there are new daily practices that I need to incorporate into my routine such as my social media posts and regular journaling, so I’ve popped them in my tracker too.

I have cheated a little bit as I have added in a tracker for my orders on my Etsy. This has absolutely nothing to do with habits but I thought I’d include it as it will allow me to track the success of my business. So let’s see how that goes!

I’ve made habit trackers before and struggled to commit to them as you really do have to fill them in every day. Let’s see if I can make keeping a habit tracker a new habit in and of itself!

Do you track your habits? Does it lead to a healthier lifestyle? Let me know in the comments!