Audio Transcript:
Before I discuss Habit Trackers, I wanted to recommend a couple of books that provide a great foundation for establishing healthy habits, or breaking bad habits.
One book is Atomic Habits, by James Clear, and the other is Tiny Habits, by BJ Fogg. You can find them in print or an audio version on Audible.com. Atomic Habits is even available in Spanish, but I have to warn you that the Spanish translation may obscure some of the main concepts a bit compared to the original.
Habit Trackers: They can be absolute game changers.
To give you just one example, I play a musical instrument, which I enjoy, but I still found myself struggling to practice consistently. Well, thanks to habit trackers, it has been many months since I’ve missed a single day of practice.
When I started using a Habit Tracker to track my practice, I decided I’d aim to play for at least 5 minutes a day, which almost always turns into much more, but that’s the minimum, and that I would strive to keep the chain of boxes in my habit tracker unbroken. Tracking my practice with a habit tracker soon switched my identity from someone who struggles to find time to practice, or who might even feel guilty about taking time from other pursuits to practice, to someone who prioritizes practice and just never misses a day, even on vacation. And even though my minimum is just 5 minutes, on average I spend a lot more time than that practicing.
Here’s an example of a couple of habits I am presently tracking. You’ll notice that I write just the first letter of each month here. And I fill in each daily box after I complete my habit each day. Of course if you miss a day, you leave the box blank and you make a firm commitment not to miss two days in a row. The idea is to create an unbroken chain of days as long as you can.
And since the more frequently you do something, the more habit forming it becomes, some form of daily practice works best with habit trackers. They’re not really for things you’d do maybe two times a week.
Going back to the the musical instrument example, instead of setting some unrealistic time goal, which I’ve done in the past, like, “I’m gonna practice for an hour a day, or 2 hours, or 4 hours,” I suggest that you start tiny – so tiny that you can always do it, even if you remember your new habit just 5 minutes before bedtime.
Put all your focus on building the habit first before you start worrying about how long you are practicing each day.
Also, think about how you can make your new habit as easy and as foolproof as possible. Starting small and focusing on building the habit instead of the amount of time you spend on it can yield huge dividends in the long run, whereas starting out too big too fast will often lead to burn out.
Let’s say you’ve set an ambitious new practice goal of an hour a day, but then you go to the movies with your family and get home right before bedtime. All of the sudden, you remember the new habit you are tracking, and you say, “Oh, no! Now I’ve got to practice for an hour, and I’ll miss sleep and feel terrible tomorrow at work.” This, of course, is not so realistic, so your ambitious new habit lasts about a week before you are back to practicing now and then – or not at all.
Instead, commit to practicing for just 5 minutes a day, or even 2 minutes. Make it so easy that you almost can’t fail.
Besides, the truth is that once you get started practicing, you’ll often find that you want to continue a bit more, and sometimes a lot more. Just remember, building the habit is more important at this point than that 5 minutes of practice. It’s true that even 5 minutes a day will grow your skills a bit, especially if it is every day, but the most important thing is that you are growing a habit, and when it matures, it will serve you for years to come, growing into something beneficial to your life. It’s like investing a little each day: your money will eventually multiply over time if you just stick with it.
If you are someone who doesn’t exercise, try something simple like tracking just 5 minutes a day of walking outside or on a treadmill. I wouldn’t be surprised if this one simple goal eventually turns into a lot more, with one little healthy habit spawning others, until your life has significantly changed for the better.
Filling in that habit tracker box each day is a way of rewarding your effort and renewing your commitment, making you more likely to repeat the habit tomorrow. You simply don’t want to break the chain.
Getting back to the musical instrument example, eventually the average time spent practicing will grow on its own. When you do something everyday, it tends to grow in your consciousness, so dedicating more time to it gets easier as the habit grows solid.
In addition to aiming for short practice sessions at first, are there other ways that you can make your new habit as easy to do as possible? For example, I leave my small flutes on my desk ready to play, and also some music on a stand ready to go. Try to remove any little friction like, “Aah, I have to go upstairs to get my instrument out of the closet,” which may be just enough friction to make you blow off practice if you are exhausted after a long day. Remove the friction!
I’ve developed many new healthy habits by making what I want to do as easy and convenient as possible. And one healthy habit often leads to others, which leads to others.
BJ Fogg is an excellent resource on this subject, but consider linking a desired habit to a well-established older habit. For instance, if you have a cup of coffee every morning without fail, link your new habit of daily planning to that time while you savor your coffee, or immediately afterwards.
Here’s another example of linking: I linked weight lifting to my cold plunge each morning. I like the cold plunge to wake up and feel good, but afterwards I am pretty chilled, so I’ll either lift weights, like crazy, or on rest days from lifting, I’ll do some other vigorous exercise immediately afterwards to warm up. In this case, I linked a more sporadic practice, weight lifting, to an established habit, cold plunging, to turn weight lifting into a solid routine.
As mentioned, one good habit tends to lead to other good habits, which leads to others… Just start small.
So, in conclusion, if you haven’t already, consider giving the habit trackers in the back of your Monthly Planner a try. Maybe just one or two new tiny habits at a time.
And if you are new to research on forming healthy habits or breaking bad ones, you might want to listen to or read Atomic Habits, by James Clear, or Tiny Habits, by BJ Fogg, or read some of their articles online.