How to Track Your Daily Habits with Daily and Weekly Planners

How often do you write down your goals or plan out your day?

There are times in life when you have all your ducks in a row, and there are others when you just want to go with the flow. But, sometimes, it can feel like you’re stuck, going nowhere slowly and without purpose. If this describes you, then using a daily and weekly planner to track your habits could be one of the best decisions you make. Planners are a visual and tangible record of your progress, and writing down the positive habits you achieve each day is a rewarding feeling that motivates you to keep going. 

Calendar Club has a fantastic selection of daily planners and weekly planners to help you start getting your goals in order. They come in book or spiral-bound covers with a variety of illustrations such as cute animals or famous artworks.

What is Habit Tracking?

Habit tracking is the process of writing down and keeping a record of the desirable habits you've accomplished each day. The key to success with this method is consistency. If you want to get better at something, you need to practice it over time. Habit tracking helps you do just that by giving you a daily reminder of your progress.

Tracking your habits will help you understand what works for you and what doesn’t. It can also be a great tool to help you achieve goals, such as losing weight or reading more books. 

How to Track Your Habits

1. Start With Small Habits

Small changes lead to big results. So before you tackle bigger goals like quitting smoking or losing weight, start small. For example, instead of trying to quit smoking all at once, set a goal to cut back on cigarettes by just one per week. Or instead of trying to fall asleep 3 hours before you usually do, try going to bed 15 minutes earlier each day. These little changes may seem insignificant, but over time, they add up to big results.

2. Set Your Goals for the Week

Setting goals is a critical part of achieving anything worthwhile. Whether you're trying to run a marathon, save money, or just make sure you're getting everything that needs doing done, setting goals is a key step towards reaching your desired outcome.

In order to set goals effectively, you'll first need to identify your objectives and write them down in your weekly planner. What exactly do you want to achieve? Master a skill? Travel? Grow your business? Whatever your goal may be, you'll need to break it down into smaller chunks. For instance, instead of saying 'I want to lose 10 kilograms', try breaking it down into 'I want to eat healthier' or 'I want to exercise every day'.

Once you've written down your goals, you’ll need to figure out how to measure your success. For this reason, it's important to ensure that your goals are SMART (specific — measurable — attainable — relevant — time-bound). So, instead of writing, 'I want to go to the gym’, try writing 'I want to go the gym twice this week'. That way, you can keep yourself accountable. And remember, it should be relevant to your long-term objectives and attainable (not hopeful).

3. Plan Your Day With a Daily Planner

Using a daily planner makes it easy to stay consistent with your habits. By tracking your progress throughout the day, you can easily identify patterns and areas where you're struggling.

Start your day by writing down five goals. These can be as big or small as you wish; it’s entirely up to you. Your goal could be as simple as making your bed or as challenging as meditating for an hour. The key here is for the habit to be something you can do on a daily basis. So, asking your boss for a raise wouldn't fit into your daily planner. That's something you should write down in your weekly planner. 

4. Review at the End of the Week

At the end of each week, review what you wrote down during the previous seven days. If you didn't complete any of your goals, then don't beat yourself up about it. Instead, think about what you did well and what you could have improved upon. You might even consider starting a new goal for next week.

If you completed some of your goals, then pat yourself on the back! It's great to see that you're making progress. But if you didn't reach all of them, don't worry — you can still be proud of yourself. Just keep working at it until you eventually achieve everything you set out to accomplish. The most important thing is that you get started. So, what are you waiting for? 

Get your daily planner and weekly planner from Calendar Club today!