Use This Habit Tracker To Build Habits That Stick

Building new habits is hard. Because we make it hard.

The truth is, building new habits is easy. We just change the thing, do it daily and stick with it. That’s all. No secret sauce, no nothing.

But we make it harder than it has to be. We wait for magic moments to make the change like New Year. Or we wait till some stars align so we can start. Or whatever. You know your excuses better than I do.

And even when we start, get bored, tired, overwhelmed and so on, skip a day and aww, let’s skip another day. And before you blink half a year is gone and you haven’t done anything. You know the drill....

Yet, there is one little method which can help you. It’s called the habit streak. Maybe you have already heard of it, maybe not. Essential, you wove to stick to your thing to change and do it daily. Every day you do it, you checkmark the day in a calendar. Having more than one checkmark in a row is a streak. And your goal is to make this one as long as possible. Skip a day, your streak is broken and you start a new one next day.

The key to this method is to actually stick with it and being honest with yourself. Try not to skip. However, we also tend to make this simple method harder because we look for an app. And guess what? There are trillions of habit streaks apps on those app stores. All do the same but in different ways, design and so on.

The problem with them is that they totally overcomplicate the whole method. Instead of doing the thing, we test dozens of apps, play with their setting, dismiss them, ignore their reminders… It’s too easy to dismiss a reminder on a phone…just swipe. and it is gone.

And with it, a day of success for forming your habit.

There is a fix for that.

Do it on paper. Pick a real calendar or a piece of paper or this superb habit tracking template, pin it somewhere you see it multiple times a day. In the bathroom, WC nightstand, TV, fridge or any other place you frequently pass by.

It will remind you all the time. Then do your thing and checkmark it. Done.

If you want to have an extra twist to make it stick, use colors instead of checkmarks and make it a fun task to color the day. Use different colors for done and fail.

So, what are you waiting for? Get a piece of paper or the template and start.

Personally, I love the template. But I am biased because I made it. I use it myself to make habits stick. Even my daughter loves coloring it and is smiling ear to ear when the whole page is yellow. It’s her favorite color and she uses it for the done days.

It is up to you what you use. Just give the method and chance and keep it simple. Simplicity rules.