The Beginner’s Guide to Habit Tracking
“What gets measured, gets managed.”
Peter Drucker
The Problem with Goal Setting
If you're anything like me, then you have had dreams, goals, and aspirations in your life. As a motivated person, you probably have a lot of items on your to-do list - both small and large.
While it is awesome to set goals and actively pursue said goals, it’s completely another thing to achieve those goals. However, a common mistake we often make (myself included) when creating goals is simply creating a deadline, not how exactly we will achieve our goal.
We focus and prioritize on what our desired outcome is. We say things like “I want to lose 20 pounds by summer,” “I want to make fitness a regular consistent thing in my life.” or I want to add 50 pounds to my squats in the next 8 weeks.”
The problems with their goals are two things:
These are outcome-based goals, not behavioral goals
We don’t have a daily plan of action on exactly HOW we plan on achieving our goal.
When we fail to magically fit our arbitrary timeline in our outcome goals, we ultimately feel like a failure when we fail to hit our goal.
Outcome Verse Behavior Goals
When it comes to creating fitness goals, it is always better to frame your goals around your behavior rather than the outcome. However, what exactly does this mean?
Let’s clarify the difference between these two:
Outcome-based goals focus on the end result, like losing 20 pounds, but don’t account for what happens between now and then.
Behavior-based goals are centered on the actions you take, like eating three servings of vegetables per day.
Outcome-based goals are extremely difficult to control. Everyone’s bodies respond differently to a new way of eating, exercising, or how much daily stress we are under. By only focusing on the end result (i.e the outcome), this can become very dissatisfied or even demoralizing after a few weeks.
However, behavior-based goals require us to shift our focus to the things we can control so we can become 1 percent better. Remember, it’s our daily actions, behaviors, and habits that are the by-product of our success -not a spasmodic herculean effort to overhaul everything at once.
If you want a habit to stick for good, a simple and effective thing you can do is keep a habit tracker. This will allow you to measure, quantify, and track your progress. In addition, it provides a clear signal whether you’re making progress or you need to course correct.
The Habit Tracker: What It Is and How It Works
A habit tracker is a simple way to measure whether you did a habit or task.
You probably already have heard or done some form of habit tracking. The most basic form is getting a calendar and crossing off each day you stick with your routine. For example, if you want to workout Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, each of those dates get an X. If you wanted to really dial in your nutrition, then you’ll enter in your Macro totals for the day to assess weekly progress.
All my online clients use a habit tracker to provide accountability while letting me assess and monitor their progress to make intelligent adjustments. There are many different methods/designs for you to track your habits, however, make sure you make this process as easy as possible. Just make sure your habit tracker provides immediate evidence that you completed your habit.
Habit trackers is a powerful tool that works for three main reasons
1) It creates a scoreboard that reminds you to act
Habit tracking should promote you to act upon seeing it. Research has shown that people who track their progress on goals like losing weight, quitting smoking, and lowering blood pressure are all more likely to improve than those who don’t. One study of more than sixteen hundred people found that those who kept a daily food log lost twice as much weight as those who did not.
A habit tracker is a simple way to log your behavior, and the mere act of tracking behavior can spark the urge to change it. In addition, it forces you to be honest. Most of us think we act better than we actually do. Measurements offer one way to overcome our blind spots and to highlight what’s really going on each day. When the evidence is staring directly at you, you are far less likely to lie to yourself.
2) Ensure long term motivation and understanding
Without question, we are motivated by progress. We want to know if we are moving forward towards achieving our goals. When we know and understand how and why we are making progress, we become more motivated to continue down that path. From this perspective, it comes easier to stay the course. Plus, it can have an addictive effect see how your small wins eventfully lead to your success. In addition, this can be a particularly powerful tool to remind yourself how much progress you’ve made if you have a “slip up.” When we make mistakes either missing a workout session or “failing off the wagon” during the weekends, it can be easy to forget all the progress you’ve already made.
3) It’s very satisfying to record your success
Lastly, it feels extremely rewarding and satisfying to cross an item off your to-do list, or to see how consistent your progress has become. You won’t be perfect when you first start, however it does become easier over time with practice. It feels good to watch your results and progress grow and see how far you’ve gone.
By tracking your habits, it forces you to shift your focus from the outcome to more behavioral-based goals. You’ll be more focused on the overall process and journey rather than just the destination. When you can take a step back to appreciate all the hard work you have done and feel good about it, you'll be more likely to continue those healthy habits.
If you are struggling to form a habit or don’t know where to begin, this is where having a coach to help create realistic do-able goals that you can do. This is where having the necessary expertise, knowledge, and accountability will set you up for success.