habit by number Archives

Habit by number habit tracking hack Featured Image | How assigning a number to your habits helps you define your habit and increase motivation | ChocolateMusings.com

Here’s an idea to help your habit tracker: track your habits by number. Hear me out. I promise there’s a reason behind this madness.

What is Habit By Number?
What Did I Track?
Why Habit By Number?
Was Habit by Number a Success?
Books for Thought

What is Habit By Number?

I’m always looking for a way to improve my habit tracker or different ways to motivate me with my habits. A couple of years ago, I created this habit by number spread in my bullet journal and didn’t realize the genius behind it. By defining a number and the habit I intended to cultivate, I created a set of parameters or rules for each habit. The rules made them feel more real and, as a result, more achievable.

When the habit became more achievable, I could feel my motivation increase. Win-win! And all it takes is a little definition and some written expectations to significantly enhance my habit-tracking motivation.

Check out the whimsical space elements plan with me post here!

What Did I Track?

Using this habit-by-number method, here are the habits I tracked for this month:

Not 1 dollar spent – a no-spend habit.
2 prayers said. If you’re more of a meditator, turn it into a 2-minute meditation habit instead.
3 Kids need attention. Adjust the numbers to fit your current family situation.
4 Pillows on a made bed. I customized this number to fit where I needed it. The habit ultimately was to make my bed. But I used the numbers to make it work for me.
5:30 up.
6 Dinner Ready, instead of procrastinating every night, I set a goal to have dinner ready by six pm. I think this was the easiest goal for me to accomplish. We now regularly eat before 6.
7000+ steps. I figure I can adjust it higher once I reach this goal daily.
8 glasses of water.
9 minutes of reading. This habit by number is a reminder to sit down for a minute and let me rest. I love to read and rarely make time for it.
In my 10 minutes. This a reminder to give credit where credit is due. It’s amazing what you can accomplish in just 10 minutes. Record what you’ve accomplished, especially if you’re feeling like you’re not getting anything done. I promise this will help you see that you do far more than you realize daily.
In bed by 11. Set your bedtime so mornings are easier.

If you’re intrigued by my idea for 10-minute tasks, here are a couple of posts to read:

Habit Tracker By Number - set your expectations and define your intentions within your habit tracker| April 2018 Plan With Me | ChocolateMusings.com

Habits by number flip out key - if yo run out of room on a page, attach another page to 'flip out' when using that page (in this case a habit tracker). Then fold it back together and turn the page | ChocolateMusings.com

April watercolor habit header - after the pen | Bullet Journal Habit Tracker | ChocolateMusings.com

Why Habit By Number?

Initially, to conserve space on the spread, I decided to use a flip-out key and define the habits that month by number. At first, I thought I was just clever by having numbers 1-11 on the top of my habit tracker page. But as it turns out, using numbers created an achievable, defined goal within the habit.

For instance: 9 minutes of reading – a reminder to take time for myself and read for pleasure. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do, but I don’t make time to do it. It’s so easy to put off reading until you have a large chunk of time. But who has a large amount of time? Not a lot of people that I know.

Taking 9 minutes to read a book or a magazine article sounds feasible. What’s more, I don’t have to make a big production or feel like I need to spend a ton of time doing this thing (that I want to do). When 9-10 minutes are up, I know I’ve met that goal for the day and get a little boost by checking off that box.

Habit by number habit tracking hack | How assigning a number to your habits helps you define your habit and increase motivation | ChocolateMusings.com

Was Habit by Number a Success?

The point initially was to include a fun element in my habit tracker. Quite by accident, this habit-by-number method turned into so much more. It assigned a level of realism and achievability to each habit. I could also test what was working and what was not. For instance, I can see that waking up at 5:30 is not working for me. So, I need to focus my efforts on something else or figure out a new strategy for achieving this habit.

Creating a reality check made tracking each habit’s success easier. With defined success, I can adjust methods to automate these habits. After all, isn’t that the point of a habit tracker? To turn these tasks into an automated habit so we don’t have to track them anymore?

Mid-Month Habit Check - Determine your priorities, flip down, habit by number

Books for Thought

My insights on how habits work came from reading books by people who have dedicated their lives (or a good portion of it) to studying habits. I’m grateful to them for doing the research, so I can recognize the benefits of ‘habit-by-number’ and what it does to help me be more successful.

Here are some books I’ve read on organizing, decluttering, and habits. I’d love a recommendation and add it to my list. Let me know if you have more to add in the comments below.

Is this month headed for another slump? As I was looking at my habit tracker earlier this month, I silently grimaced. It seems as though these supposed life-improvements are not improving anything! My thoughts meandered around this subject as I checked off other tasks through the day. Later that night, I realized something. It’s not earth-shattering, but it could be life-changing. The goal is to make these habits come naturally and automatically, but they don’t at first. They need a conscious effort.

Determine Your Priorities

I go throughout my day expecting for these habits to happen (because they’re habits right?) Habits just happen. Well, these are not well-formed habits yet. They are only habit seedlings. Tying back to my word of the year “Grow,” these little seeds need nourishment and given priority. If they don’t get priority, they will get pushed to the way-side and wither. This piece of information was like an entirely new revelation. Why hadn’t I thought of this before?!

In the 365-day project on Skillshare (check out the intro to that class) Cynthia says to get very specific with the time to work on the project. Habits need the same care and planning. The things I practice aren’t going to happen by themselves, and I know as well as anyone, if I leave them to the end of the day, they aren’t getting done.

Ask Every Day:

Every day I ask myself ‘where are your priorities’? Do you want this to really be a habit? As you can see, going to bed and getting up early is not a priority for me this month #5 & #11 and #1 needs work too. But after I shifted my perspective, I started putting more time and effort into making sure I do the other items on my habit tracker. I am nowhere near perfect, but the shift in thinking is substantial.

Determine your priorities: Habit tracking - the shift in perspective that changed everything.

Definitions

There are some habits on my tracker that will never receive a 100% completed mark at the end of the month. Like “not a dollar spent”. I can’t eliminate groceries, gas, and other necessities throughout the month. But I can define it better ‘as no frivolous spending’ or set aside specific days to grocery shop.

There are other habits that are simply not getting priority placement in my day. 8 glasses of water, 7000 steps, in bed by 11 are a few. If I truly want these to become a habit, which is where I don’t have to think about them anymore, then I need to think about them {a lot} to form the habit. They need to sit forefront in my mind and not just exist in my life as something ‘nice to do’. Determine your priorities, do you really want these things on your daily to-do list done? Do you really want to create a habit out of these items? If so, they need a higher priority.

Design This Month – Habit by Number

If you’ve been a reader of this blog for a month or more, you should know that I hated March’s layout. For April’s Mid-Month Habit Check, I resumed grid/box layout. But this month I ordered them by number and added a little flip-out key at the bottom. I went through each item and assigned a name and definition to the number. I filled in the obvious ones first, like 8 glasses of water, in bed by 11, and then I matched up numbers with goals. Some are kind of silly or a stretch, but it was fun!

I don’t think I’ve ever posted what all my habits are, sometimes I let you find out on your own if you want. Sometimes I cleverly crop the photo to exclude those habits, but I decided to share them with you, partially so I could explain my method, but partially because I am now more accountable for them because I shared them publicly and with friends. Hold me accountable ok? But be nice about it – life happens. I’d do the same for you.

What DO the Numbers Mean?!

Not 1 dollar spent (the opposite page is a spending tracker – I am excluding all of those things on the spending tracker. If we need gas or if I take the kids to the doctor, I exclude those from my tracking. But if I buy medicine at the store and some other things too, that counts against the tracker!)
2 Prayers said (personal prayers)
3 kids need attention (it’s a good thing I don’t have 4 or more, I’d be neglecting at least one each day)
4 pillows on a made bed – truth be told, we have more pillows than that, but I want a made bed!
5:30 up – I have a love-hate relationship with mornings. When I’m up, I love them. When I love my bed too much to get up, I hate them.
6 Dinner ready. This pairs nicely with #1, if I have dinner ready, we will be less likely to go out to eat. The hubby gets home at 6, so it all works out.
7000+ steps. I know the recommended steps are 10,000, but 10 was already taken and I am building up to a higher number. A month ago, the steps goal was 5,000. So I am doing well!
8 glasses of water. The best way for me to do this one is to start early in the morning. Get 4 in me before I leave for work then it’s not so daunting.
9 minutes of reading. I didn’t have something that fit 9. Nine is less than 10, which makes it seem even less overwhelming right?
In my 10 minutes – give myself credit for the things that I do.
In bed by 11. I have to chuckle as I look at the clock right now, it is 11:09 pm. Oh, the Irony! If I can make this a more regular habit, #5 will be easier too.

Overall Summary

I LOVE the idea of “Habit by Number” and that may become my new thing. It becomes less overwhelming assigning a number and specifics to the task. The goals are clearer and I can see an end in sight. Numbers add specifics. Changing my perspective and giving priority to these tasks that I hope will become forever part of my life promises to be a phenomenal shift in perspective.