Track Your Habits and Reach Your Goals with a Habit Tracker

10 min readSep 20, 2023

Have you ever set a goal to develop a new habit — like exercising more, reading every day, or learning a new skill — only to let it fall by the wayside after a few weeks? You’re not alone. Many people struggle to stick to new habits long-term. Fortunately, habit trackers can help you stay on track.

What is a Habit Tracker?

A habit tracker is a simple tool you can use to monitor your habits. It allows you to record whether or not you completed a certain task or habit each day.

For example, let’s say you want to establish a daily reading habit. With a habit tracker, you would simply mark off each day you read. Over time, the tracker provides a visual record of your progress.

Habit trackers help create accountability and motivate you to keep going. When you visibly see your consistency, you’ll be encouraged to maintain your habit streak. Tracking also helps you notice patterns — for instance, which days you tend to struggle with your habit.

Why Use a Habit Tracker?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p5N6AMarLY

There are many benefits to using a habit tracker:

Achieve Your Goals

The main reason to use a habit tracker is simple — it helps you achieve your goals. For instance, if your aim is to build a workout routine, a tracker can monitor your progress. Each time you exercise, check it off in your tracker.

Seeing your activity logged provides reinforcement and motivation. You’ll push yourself to keep your workout streak going. Over time, you’ll inch closer to your fitness objectives.

Build New Habits

It’s one thing to want to adopt a new routine like meditation or more family time. But actually sticking to a habit change long-term is tough.

This is where habit trackers shine. They help cement new behaviors through consistency and accountability.

As you diligently mark off each day you practice your new habit, it starts to become automatic. Your tracker record inspires you to keep your streak going.

Break Bad Habits

Habit trackers aren’t just for building healthy routines. They can also help you break bad habits like overspending, smoking, or procrastinating.

For example, let’s say you want to stop buying takeout for lunch. Use your tracker to record when you packed your own lunch versus when you bought takeout. Seeing multiple takeout purchases marked will highlight your habit loop and motivate you to change.

Gain Insights

A paper or digital tracker allows you to monitor patterns and insights about your habits over time.

You can see which habits you succeed with consistently versus those that need more work. You’ll also notice certain days that are harder for your habit than others.

These insights allow you to adjust your approach and set yourself up for success. For instance, if you notice you always slip up on your habit on Fridays, you can prepare extra motivation or support that day.

How to Use a Habit Tracker Effectively

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p5N6AMarLY

To get the most out of your habit tracker, follow these best practices:

Start Small

It’s easy to get overambitious when launching new habits. But trying to institute too many changes at once usually backfires.

Instead of tracking 5–10 new habits, start with just 1 or 2 focus areas. This might be something like making your bed daily, reading before bed, or journaling.

Stick with these small changes for at least 30 days before adding another habit. Tiny repeated actions build lasting change.

Be Specific

Clearly define what success looks like for your habit. “Exercise more” is vague. “Go to the gym for 30 minutes 3x per week” is specific and trackable.

Having a crystal-clear vision of your habit goal will make it easier to hold yourself accountable. There’s no room for rationalizing or procrastination.

Make Checkboxes Easy to Access

You need to check off your habit on your tracker immediately after completing the task. If it’s buried in your journal or an app you rarely open, you’ll often forget.

Keep your tracker visible and convenient — on your bathroom mirror, nightstand, desktop, etc. Have it right where the habit takes place so you can instantly mark it off.

Track Consistently

Sporadic tracking defeats the purpose. You must check off your habit daily — or however often it occurs — to create an unbroken chain.

One trick is to attach your tracking to an existing routine like breakfast or bedtime. Put your tracker in the spot where you’ll naturally come across it.

Review Progress Weekly

Take time each week to look back at your tracker and review your progress. What successes can you celebrate? Where did you struggle? How can you improve next week?

Reflection helps you gain insights and stay accountable. It also feels motivating to see those multiple checkmarks adding up!

Adjust Slowly

Let’s say you set a goal to exercise 5 days a week, but find 3 days is more realistic long-term. Don’t be afraid to tweak your habits.

Slowly adjust your routine to make it more sustainable and notch “small wins” consistently versus chasing over-ambitious goals.

Habit Tracking Methods and Tools

You can track habits with simple paper-and-pen or use apps with advanced analytics. Here are some options:

Paper Habit Trackers

Bullet journal — Create a monthly habit tracker as part of your bullet journal key. Check off habits with an X or dot each day.
Printable templates — Search sites like Etsy or Pinterest for habit tracker printable templates to download.
Whiteboard — Use a whiteboard on your fridge or wall to handwrite and erase your tracker.

Digital Habit Trackers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deKQJHLL4Ng

Excel spreadsheet — Make a simple daily or weekly tracker grid using Excel to check off habits.
Habit tracking apps — Apps like Habitica, HabitBull, and Loop let you log habits via phone or desktop.
Task apps — Use the recurring task function in apps like Todoist, Asana, or Trello to schedule and track habits.
Calendar apps — Add your daily or weekly habits to your Google or Apple calendar to visibly track them.
Health apps — Many fitness and meditation apps like MyFitnessPal and Headspace have built-in tracking.

Get Creative

You don’t have to use a traditional checklist layout for your habit tracker. Get creative with these unique ideas:

Draw a weekly log or calendar and color in days you do your habit.
Craft a chain, ladder, or grid poster to visually track habits over time.
Make a jar or container to hold tokens each day you succeed — like a marble or penny.
Use stickers on a monthly calendar to indicate days you stick to your routine.

Habit Tracking Examples and Templates

To spark ideas for your own tracker, here are some examples and templates:

Morning Routine Tracker

Track daily morning habits like making your bed, meditating, or exercising first thing.

Download this morning routine template.

Healthy Habits Tracker

Monitor nutrition, fitness, sleep and mental health habits.

Download this health habits template.

Monthly Habits Calendar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riubFyN0_JU

Use a monthly calendar to color code or X off your habit streaks.

Download this monthly calendar template.

Goal Tracker Sheet

Track metrics and milestones for your goals like weight loss, savings, or projects.

Download this goal tracker sheet.

Tips for Sticking to Your Habit Tracker

Creating your tracker is the easy part — the challenge is consistently using it. Try these tips to form a habit tracking habit:

Start on the 1st — Begin your tracker on the 1st of the month for easy weekly/monthly tracking.
Note streaks — Highlight streaks of 7, 15, or 30+ days in a row to visualize progress.
Pair with rewards — Reward milestones like a week-long streak with something motivating like a massage.
Track for accountability — Share your tracker with a friend or partner to keep each other on track.
Review on Sunday — Block time on Sunday to review your tracker and prep for the new week.
Troubleshoot slip-ups — If you miss a day, get back on track ASAP. Note why you slipped up and how to avoid it.
Fall forward — Remember: progress isn’t linear. Expect downs along with ups. Just start again tomorrow!

Build Life-Changing Routines with a Habit Tracker

Habit tracking is a simple yet powerful tool. With consistency over time, you can engrain new habits, achieve goals, and transform your daily routines.

Choose 1–2 habits and start tracking today. Seeing your progress marked out provides motivation you won’t get from goals in your head. Over time, small tracked actions create incredible results.

Stick with the same routine for 30 days before adding another focus area or habit. Tiny, incremental steps forward make lasting change. You’ve got this!

Common Habits to Track

There are endless habits you could track — here are some popular ones to consider:

Health & Fitness Habits

Exercise (e.g. 30 minutes per day)
Steps walked per day
Intake of water, fruits, and vegetables
Sleep duration and quality
Meditation or yoga sessions
Weight lifting routines

Mental Health & Self-Care Habits

Journaling or reflective writing
Reading personal development books
Taking relaxing baths or time for hobbies
Practicing gratitude daily
Doing acts of kindness
Following a skincare or beauty routine

Productivity & Career Habits

Completing important tasks and projects
Blocking out distraction-free focus time
Doing valued deep work
Networking and relationship-building
Engaging in career development activities

Home & Family Habits

Cooking healthy homemade meals
Keeping home tidy and clutter-free
Quality time with kids, partner, pets
Running errands and chores
Volunteering or helping others

Financial Habits

Sticking to a budget
Saving money each month
Paying off debts or loans
Investing a % of income
Avoiding unnecessary purchases

Learning Habits

Reading books or articles
Taking an online course
Practicing a musical instrument
Studying a foreign language
Learning a new skill like coding

Habit Tracking Mistakes to Avoid

It’s easy to go wrong with habit tracking if you’re not mindful. Watch out for these common mistakes:

Starting Too Many Habits at Once

Tracking 5, 10, or more habits simultaneously usually backfires. You get overwhelmed and abandon your tracker. Start with just 1–2 habits to focus on.

Choosing Vague Habits

“Eat healthier” is hard to track. “Eat 2 servings of vegetables daily” is specific. Define your habits concretely.

Not Recording Habits Immediately

You’re likely to forget to mark your tracker if you don’t do it right after completing the habit. Get in the rhythm of tracking as soon as each habit happens.

Leaving Your Tracker in an Inconvenient Spot

If your tracker isn’t visible where relevant habits happen, you won’t remember to check them off consistently. Keep it front and center.

Not Reviewing Your Progress

Take time weekly to review your tracker. Check patterns, celebrate wins, and troubleshoot where you slipped up. Reflection helps you improve.

Being Too Hard on Yourself

Don’t stress about the occasional missed day. Focus on overall consistency rather than perfection. Keep going even after a slip up.

Extra Tips for Habit Tracking Success

Here are a few more tips to boost your habit tracking results:

Make your tracker visually appealing so you enjoy using it. Use colorful pens, stickers, highlighters, etc.
Write an encouraging note on your tracker about why your habit matters. Re-read it when you need motivation.
Schedule reminders on your phone/calendar for habits you tend to forget.
Find an accountability partner to share your progress and keep each other on track.
Take “before” pictures and measurements so you can see objective evidence of your progress over time.
Use apps that allow you to track habits in multiple ways — by streaks, by calendar view, by categories, etc.
Record more than just whether you did the habit or not. Note details like duration, intensity, metrics, etc.
Make exceptions ahead of time. Planning to skip tracking on vacation or hectic days prevents you from losing steam.
Meet yourself where you’re at. Adjust goals up or down depending on your energy and life circumstances at the time.

In Summary: How to be Successful with a Habit Tracker

Here are the key steps for habit tracking success in a nutshell:

Choose just 1 or 2 small, concrete habits to start with.
Decide on a tracking method and create your tracker.
Place your tracker where you’ll see it when you do the habit.
Check off or record each habit immediately after doing it.
Review your tracker weekly and adjust your approach as needed.
Celebrate successes and milestones. Don’t beat yourself up for occasional slip ups.
Add new habits slowly over time as previous ones become ingrained.
Stick with it! Consistency over the long haul is key.

Creating lasting change doesn’t happen overnight. But with a simple habit tracker, you can get 1% better each day, build momentum, and make incredible progress.

You’ve got this! Here’s to creating habits that transform your life.