A habit cannot be tossed out the window; it must be coaxed down the stairs a step at a time.
-Mark Twain
-Mark Twain
Why I Define Habits, Not Goals
As a lifelong daydreamer, I've always devised lofty aspirations for myself in my head. Whether it was grand career goals, athletic ambitions, or even learning a silly little skill like juggling, there was always a desire to do more and more. Of course, we all have 24 hours in a day - and far fewer than that if you count the task lists that seem to get longer with each passing year - so following all of the desire paths in my head was never going to be possible.I slowly entered the Real World and saw how much of my time and energy was sucked up doing menial tasks like scrubbing the bathtub or listening to crackling hold music, I realized that I would never be able to do all the things that my shiny young counterpart saw in her future. However, giving up on all of my many, many dreams seemed too disappointing to bear.
Spiraling into a quarter-life crisis seemed inevitable. I had to find a way to still feel like I was working towards something, and achieving something that was just for me. Work assignments and social obligations would never be able to fulfil the deeper meaning that I was searching for in my day-to-day life.
Creating Habit Systems
I'd like to think that I came up with my first "habit system" myself. In university, sick of only reading academic texts, I decided to add a chapter of a leisure book to my study sessions. It was a nice way to transition in between subjects and keep the creative side of my brain happy!
After I left school, the assignment queue finally ended, and I was met with newfound free time. For several years, I squandered the time, spending far too many hours in local bars or watching TV. After many months of wondering why my life felt like groundhog day, I realized that I was no longer being challenged or being forced to accomplish projects by the looming school deadlines. If I wanted to get from my current life to my ideal life, I would need to set up opportunities for learning and achievement myself.
Benefits of Using a Habit Tracker
Tracking habits helps me to prioritize things that are most important to me and hold myself accountable to my values and goals. The tracker is a tangible way for me to measure progress, or lack thereof, and provides insights into what helps and hurts my day-to-day life. Being able to look through your tracker helps me find patterns of behavior - for example, going to bed late one night can hurt my progress the next day, and missing my workout might result in bad sleep!
The tracker can also help with motivation! Seeing how far you've come and celebrating success can be SO motivational. Having more simple habits on your tracker, like taking vitamins, helps to bring the momentum for more challenging habits, like answering all your emails each day.
Features of my Habit Tracker
There are many spaces for you to write all your habits in the spreadsheet. Don't feel the need to fill them all up! When you are just starting off, keeping track of only a few things can make the tasks not seem as momentous. Start small, and add new things as soon as your habits don't feel challenging anymore. If flossing is difficult for you to do every day (I know it is for me), don't feel ashamed to put it in the tracker, even if your friend does it twice a day effortlessly.
Some habits may be daily, but some might not. The "Goal" column will let you input how many times you'd like to complete it - if your goal is to hit the gym 3 times a week, you can put 12 in the goals column. You'll also be able to track your streaks and how far into completion you are for the month. Keep things realistic here! You aren't going to go from a couch potato to a daily runner. At the end of each month, you can look back on your goals and reevaluate your goals - if you feel confident that you can do more, do more! If you've overextended yourself, try paring back. Each month is a new opportunity!
There is also a mood tracker for the day - I love seeing how my mood changes depending on what habits I've done that day. It makes it easy to tell what you're doing that really makes your life better. That being said, you might be out with friends all day, not spend time on your habits, and still have your mood as 5/5. Totally valid!
There are also some monthly trackers at the bottom, with spaces to input multi-day accomplishments like books read, along with good memories that you've had over the month. One of the things that I've been working on is buying less stuff, so I have a purchases section to keep the shopping under control. These sections are totally customizable to what is most important to you.
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