Why Tracking Your Habits Matters

After you have created some new habits, remember that you want to keep track of the progress. 

This might seem silly if you are doing something like waking up a little earlier,
but tracking the habits you change and how it is going can be really beneficial for you.

It Helps to Keep Up the Momentum
Keeping up with new habits is a challenge, since you are adjusting to doing something different in your daily life that you were not doing before. From skipping your morning cup of coffee for tea instead, to remembering to fit in a workout before bed at night, you need time to adjust to it. There might also come a time when you lose some of your motivation, making it harder to stick to. By tracking it in a journal or planner, you can see how long you have been keeping up with the new habit, and remind yourself every day to continue with it.

You Can Track Progress of Your Habits
Tracking the habit isn’t just a matter of marking down how many days you have done it for, but actually making notes about how it is going. This is why using a journal is highly recommended. You can write about how you feel it is going, if and when you are seeing improvements from the new habit, and yes, sometimes that you just are not seeing benefits from it.

It Helps to Tie Them in with Your Goals
Many new habits are created in order for you to reach certain goals in your personal or professional life. By tracking the progress of your habits, you can also use it to help mark things off your task list for each of your goals. Maybe you have a goal of one day completing a 10k, so you need to start new habits of walking each day, then running each day, then making sure you are fueling your body with healthy foods. These habits are helping you to reach your end goal.

Tracking Makes it Easier to Adjust Your Habits
Lastly, some of your new habits will need to be adjusted or changed completely. However, you don’t want to do this too quickly, or just because you don’t want to wake up early anymore. Instead, it helps to have a way to track the progress, including how long you have been doing it for, if you have been consistent, and if it is benefiting you in the way you thought. This is really only something you can see if you have been tracking it the entire time.