monthly habits Archives

My Muses #3: Favorite Reasons for Habit Tracking & May Mid-Month Habit Check

May 17, 2018 1 Comment

Favorite Reasons for Habit Tracking, Creating Habits & Favorite Quotes for My Habit Tracker

I’m going to combine two topics this week. Usually, I post a mid-month habit-check for my accountability and hopefully providing a little inspiration for you too! I decided to combine My Muses (favorites) with my habit check this month. Here are a few of my favorite reasons for habit tracking, creating habits, and favorite quotes to use in my habit tracker.

We Manage What We Monitor - handlettered quote #change #habits #handletter #quote #handlettered

-Gretchen Rubin

Why I Track My Habits

Every month I post my progress on forming habits. To date, I think I’ve posted just one true habit success story- “dishes aren’t a dirty word anymore” (FYI, it’s still a success). Other than that at a glance and in comparison to other’s progression, my habits seem to go nowhere. Just looking at the data, there’s little progression. But that’s not how I see it. I’m still trying, and that makes all the difference. I know I am trying to make a positive change in my life. This is why I track my habits. We manage what we monitor – one of my favorite chapters from Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin. To paraphrase: monitoring doesn’t require change but often leads to it.

I know I write a lot about not making improvements or lack of progress, the truth is: creating a habit is hard. If it were easy, there wouldn’t be more than 30,000 books on Amazon with the word ‘habit’ in the title (with more added all the time). I’ve read a few, and many have helped me in my journey here are a few of my favorites:

Other Habits in “the Works”

Right now I am working on decluttering my house using the KonMari method, and if that’s not a change of habits, I don’t know what is. If I don’t change my shopping habits, I could end up where I was before I started. And I never realized how much stuff I have! Getting rid of it is exhilarating and completely exhausting, but what’s more amazing to see the other members of my family follow my lead, that payoff is thrilling.

If habits weren’t hard to create or break, there wouldn’t be a need to track them. (Do a search on Habit Tracking at Pinterest – it’s a fun rabbit hole – I’ve got a board dedicated just to tracking with all kinds of tracking ideas). Round, Square, linear, weekly, box grid, dots, patterns, there’s a lot of variety in tracking methods.

Percentage calculator for monthly habit trackers

Success Rate Percentages

Want to figure percentages in your habit tracker at the end of a month? I’ve done the calculations for you, so you can quickly jot down how you did.

Gretchen Rubin says in her book Better Than Before, “It’s simple to change habits, but it’s not easy”. And I couldn’t agree more!

The principle of getting up at 5:30 in the morning is simple, and the reason is genuine. It’s so I can have some much-needed time to think, write, and read before the chaos of the morning starts, but getting up at the appointed time is difficult. Well, as you can see below (personal #5), I’ve not succeeded in many instances (just once so far this month). I keep it on my habit tracker because I want to form this habit, even though I know I am not ready to commit to the actions needed to create the pattern (yet).

creating habits, mid-month habit check, sometimes it's the journey not the speed, favorite reasons for habit tracking

One thing I love on my habit tracker is a good quote. January 2018 featured one of my favorites – Sometimes it’s the Journey, not the speed.

Habit Tracker Quotes

Here are some other great quotes for your habit tracker. I love finding inspirational quotes from Brainy Quote. Goodreads surprised me with a fun quote database. If you’re on twitter, check out @Inspire_us for some great and inspirational quotes, they influence my feed for good.

I hope you’ve enjoyed a snippet of my inspiration my favorite reasons for habit tracking and some resources I enjoy using on a regular basis. If you have any resources you use, drop me a line below in the comments! I’d love to hear about them.

Question:

What’s your favorite quote to use in your habit tracker?

~Tricia

April Mid-Month Habit Check – Determine your Priorities

April 19, 2018 3 Comments

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.

Habit Tracking by Number - with flip down key chart, assign a coordinating number to each of your habits

Question:

When you’ve said ‘I did a thing’ what did you do?

If you’ve bought a traveler’s notebook – where did you find yours?

Remember to plan your life so you live beautifully and don’t be afraid to find your inner muse.

~Tricia

Mid-Month Habit Check – October

October 17, 2017 4 Comments

Need some re-motivation in the middle of the month? Do a Mid-Month Habit Check.

In a habit slump? Do a mid-month habit check to reignite your motivation

I started doing a mid-month habit check a couple of months ago. The beginning of the month I am completely motivated and know that I am going to conquer all of my desires and do all the things. Well, that’s what I intended to do anyway. By the middle of the month, it seems that I have lost steam and I need a boost of motivation.

So the middle of the month, I do a quick assessment of my habits which re-motivates me to keep going to the end of the month. I find this 5-minute assessment does wonders for reigniting the flame that I felt at the beginning of the month.

Questions to ask yourself for re-motivation:

Once I reassess where I am, I spend a couple of minutes thinking of what motivated me in the first place.

I ask:

Why did I start this habit?
What is the end goal?
Do I need to change the time of day for this habit?

A little meditation goes a long way.

Make a Change & Get It Done:

If I find a neglected habit, it probably means that I am not planning for it or I am letting other ‘fluff’ get in the way – things that don’t really matter occupy the time that I would spend on that habit. So I need to refocus and eliminate some of that fluff. If I need to move the habit to the beginning of the day, I do it.

For instance, the I’ve neglected the Show Me Your Letters habit this month. Last month, I missed maybe one day. This month so far, I’ve missed 7 of 17.

Supercharge your habits:

If you notice at the end of this tracker, I have numbers and a blank column on the right side. Th blank column is for the end of the month and I will calculate the percentage of days that I completed that habit. The other column that already has numbers recorded shows how many days of the month I completed the last month. For instance, the show me your letters had 23 days of September that I completed that habit. If I put it as a priority for the rest of the month, I could still meet or beat that number from last month.

I created a post a couple of months ago to “Super-Charge Your Habit Tracker” that talks more about these columns in the habit tracker. You can read it here.

I created a percentage chart so you don’t have to figure it out. Pin for reference later! In October, you would use the 31 days column to figure your percentages. At the end of the month, count the number of days you completed a habit. For instance – if your total days completing a habit was 21, and the month had 31 days, your percentage would be 68%.

For instance – if your total days completing a habit was 21, and the month had 31 days, your percentage would be 68%.

Calculating the percentage helps me really see if I need to change the time of day for that habit if I need to move it to the morning or evening. I love seeing the real numbers so I can give that habit a ‘grade’.

Two Categories of Habits:

I actually have two categories of habits that I track. It’s not indicated anywhere except in my mind.

Habits I am actively trying to pursue, and usually the ones I spend the most time on.
Habits I am assessing – these are ‘test subjects’ if you will – things I want to include in my life and are important, I just may not have set goals for them yet. These will most likely become the next set of habits I am actively trying to pursue. Maybe they need a little tweaking, or I need to plan them into my day. It’s like they are getting a trial run on my habit tracker.