The secrets behind habit tracking

Habit tracking may sound a bit too OCD for most people, and that’s a shame. This powerful tool can help many of us choose wiser in all aspects of life, especially when it comes to our daily expenses.

Olof Hoverfält, principal at the Finnish tech company Reaktor, documented his daily wardrobe choices for over three years. Although most of us worry experiments like this one could take up too much of our morning ritual, it shouldn’t. The results are actually way more rewarding than expected for sacrificing an extra minute of our day.

Tapping into habit tracking

If you’re curious about something or want to change a certain quality of yours, recording it on a daily basis is a smart thing to do: whether it’s exercising, time management, work habits, spending habits, etc. Documentation is the first step to permanent change.

Habit tracking helps us gain some perspective on our own lives. Our actual behaviour can be quite different to what we think we do. The classic “I don’t go out for dinner too often” is a perfect example for so many social butterflies, who later realise they’ve been paying for way too many coffees, drinks and Ubers. Same thing happens with faulty diets when tracking their calories, one might find that an extra sugary treat here and there is actually slowing down the progress.

Faithful, honest tracking of habits is the only way to truly learn what it is we do with our time and our lives.

Don’t be too hard on yourself

When tracking a habit, whichever that is, it’s best to focus on the actual behaviour: the goal at this point is to record it, not to judge yourself. Self-criticism and data recollection usually results in failure. The best thing to do is to try to distance yourself from any negative thoughts as much as possible and focus on the information.

Once you have enough data, it’s time to take action. Review your habits and set new and realistic goals for the upcoming future.

As James Clear states in his book Atomic Habits, “habit trackers and other visual forms of measurement can make your habits satisfying by providing clear evidence of your progress.”

Now that you’re on phase two of your habit tracking experience, feel happy about saving that dollar or choosing that carrot and hummus over a muffin. It’s important to keep motivated and not be hard on ourselves when we fall off the waggon.

Ready for your first habit tracking experience?