Habit tracking part 2:

Reiterating my goals for my habit tracker

This is a follow up to the first post I made about this topic. I have been using the habit tracker for a couple months. This is mainly just a note to myself to express my thoughts and dedicate some time to thinking deeply about what I can do to improve on this process.

To create successful habits, I am using techniques from the book Atomic Habits. I have also found good success with pairing a new habit with an existing behavior.

1. Make queue obvious.
2. Make craving attractive.
3. Make response easy.
4. Make reward satisfying.

Redesign habits that aren’t working!

I have been using a habit tracker to track new habits and find out which ones are working and which arent. If a habit is too difficult and I haven’t been executing on it then it needs to be broken down into a smaller goal, easier habit, or removed entirely and replaced so that I can again make progress on it. I’ve tried to remind myself that being hard on myself about failing a habit is not a solution.

Habits:

Working for me:

• Get ready for bed at 9
• Be in bed at 9:30
• Wake up at 5:30 AM
• Drink full glass of water when I wake up
• Use my habit app
• Audiobooks in the car(this one is very satisfying and easy to maintain)
• Gym when I get home from work or in the morning if I work from home
• Read one dev.to article every work day

Not working for me:

• Coding my side project everyday (this one is very important to me but I struggle to work consistently on it)
• Visualization of future self
• Korean language podcasts
• Laundry on a regular schedule so it doesn’t build up

How to break apart a desired habit that isn’t working

Example: Writing down something in my journal every day.

• Make it easy: The minimum requirement for success on this habit is to simply pull out the journal and put it on my desk.
• Stack it: I take this journal out when I get out my laptop for work.
• Make it simple: It doesn’t matter what I write, sketch, or just scribble some bullet points. It all counts.
• Make it flexible: Some days I write a little, some days I write a lot, and some days not at all.

• 2022 6
• 2021 8
• 2020 3
• 2019 8