habit tracking journals and why you need one
Hey ya’ll. I took a week off but I am back to tell you all about my new habit tracker! It is a journal where you can visually measure your goals and habits on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
I got this habit tracker on Amazon and decided to start it with the arrival of a new month, August 2021.
I also got these pens to make it more fun to track with. I mean, who doesn’t love new pens?! Maybe that’s just the teacher in me. These are awesome; they don’t bleed through and have skinny marker like tips.
What is habit tracking?
Habit tracking is a simple and visual way to see whether you completed a task (good habit) on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. ANYONE can start habit tracking ANYTIME! :)
Why did I decide to start?
I have seen these things ALL over instagram lately and I was super intrigued by the visual tracking and measuring my progress in a new way. I have made a lot of progress in my recent therapy sessions and am starting to feel like myself again on my medication. If you aren’t sure what I am referring to, I tell my story about my anxiety and depression on my “motherhood is priceless” blog post.
Because I have struggled with feeling productive and being a Stay at Home Mom, I thought this would be an awesome way to “show” all I was able to do in a day even if it didn’t feel like I was doing much to reach my goals. I think a lot of moms can relate to the fact that you feel like you’re going insane all day keeping the kids alive and the house running, but it also can feel like you really did DO anything. By tracking my good habits that help me take care of myself and my mental health, I feel productive.
What are the habits I am tracking?
The beautiful thing about the tracker I got is that it is all blank. There are no confinements as far as dates or goals go! You can customize it it be your own.
Here are my daily goals/habits for August 2021:
1) skin care routine
2) exercise at least 30 minutes
3) read at least 30 minutes
4) complete 3 “gratefuls” in my journal
5) track my food using My Fitness Pal
6) get outside at some point during the day, or get out of the house
7) drink at least 1/2 gallon of water
8) clean something - anything
I love that these goals aren’t too unrealistic but they still are challenging. Yes, these can look like a lot of extra work on top of my mommy duties, but to combat feeling over whelmed, I made sure to put things on there that i ALREADY have as habits to make myself feel successful! They are kind of like freebies. One example is my skincare routine. It’s short and sweet but I make sure to do it at least every night. So, I know that is at least one thing I will get to color in at the end of the day.
I also include my weekly goals for my blog, date night, and music class with Baylor. Then I included my now monthly therapy session, monthly check in with Matt, and monthly budget check.
What if I don’t complete an item?
This is something my therapist and I talked about this week. She loved this idea whenI brought it up to her, but she also realizes I try to do too much sometimes and my expectations can be too high for myself. We talked about how there WILL be days I do not complete every task and thats perfectly okay. This is just about creating better habits and you can always try again tomorrow, or the next day, or the next. The habits I have a hard time with in a month can roll into the next month after I reflect.
It’s never too late to start some good habits! I will keep you updated with how I like this tracker. Let me know if you try it too!
xoxo, you got this mama!
