habit tracking pain points

“Does anyone else get bad anxiety or beat themselves up when their habit tracker isn’t full? I know realistically they are goals and ideals for the perfect daily rhythms, but I get so derailed when I miss a habit or two that after a few days of missed habits add up I stop bullet journaling.”

“This is exactly why I don’t habit track anymore. It made my mental health worse. Those type of spreads aren’t for everyone and that’s ok.”

“Same, activity tracking doesn't work for me. In my case, it exacerbated my perfectionist tendencies, which made me feel less motivated (because if you're a perfectionist, you don't want to do something if you can't do it perfectly).”

“I need a habit tracker that won't make me depressed.”

“I get so frustrated with the color-in or check off ones. Missing one day makes me feel like I'm falling behind in life, but I need something that keeps me focused on actually completing these things: flossing, unloading and reloading the dish washer, etc.”

“I always say that! If you write negative language you sort of obsess about it, especially when you have to put a number on a scale about anxiety or depression: "how bad I'm really doing?" Also, it makes you feel better to have trackers that you can fill every day instead of trying to leave blank.”

“My therapist and I are working on my perfectionism, slowly but surely. But the trackers gave me so much anxiety and overwhelm that we both decided that trackers are something to set aside for now; the other aspects of bujo have been more helpful.”

“Yeah that’s what I was afraid of.”

“I feel this. I have to constantly tell myself progress>perfection. I only track 4 habits which align with my long-term goals and that makes it much easier to avoid feeling overwhelmed.”

“Habit trackers don't work for me and that's okay”

“I've tried tracking so many different things over the 5 years I've been journaling, but always come back to the same 3, because I see them as a good proxy for my general wellbeing.”

“I’ve been tracking my habits using monthly trackers and then a meta-tracker (graph) for 8 months. I have decided to stop moving forward. To be worthwhile to me, a bujo exercise needs to be a) enjoyable and b) motivating towards better outcomes. I enjoyed tracking my habits for the first two months but then it became a chore, and I felt actually annoyed about needing to take the time to update it and the lengthy process of drawing each monthly tracker.”

“Most apps fail me after 2 weeks of novelty HAAHHAHAHA. My most successful system is bullet journaling. It's quite simple, I don't really put a lot of habits that I want to do everyday. It's more of a "ah ok I didn't do this chore/hobby this week, perhaps I should today?".”

“Having a habit tracker was like giving myself extra chores. It wasn't until i started simplying my routines and surroundings that i was able to make my routines stick.”

“I’ve tried a variety of different apps and the biggest thing I struggled with is actually remembering to use them lol. After a week—to even a few days I’d forgot the app existed.”

“The thing about tracking habit apps/systems that don't work for me is that tracking your habits is in fact a habit in and of itself, and a really mundane and easy to forget one at that.”

“I also gave up tracking a couple of years ago. In 2024 I plan to casually do it on the phone, if I remember (less time spent actually tracking).”

“Tried some of them, but i had already started to sort some of my daily routine through the standard phone calendar, by setting alarms for things i needed to remember. I couldn't find the strength to bring everything to a new app :[”

“How well do you maintain your tracker? I found it overwhelming to log each individual task like skin care, brush teeth, etc. that I would just call it self care. But then because I wasnt specific enough, I let things slip-ish. So I just am at a lost really. What’s your trick or how are you able to do it?”

“I'm also neurodivergent (adhd and autism) and I use my trackers mainly just as a way to track of my life without just using a diary, so most of the time they're not particularly useful tbh, lmao. In terms of habits I track when I shower, wash my hair, wash my face and brush my teeth, not as much because I want to try to do them every day (although I do ideally want that) but more just so I know when I last did them, lol.”

“Not if you have adhd”

“If you want to be better at brushing your teeth at night, track only that for a while until the habit really sets in. Then you can also stack other habits on top of it.”

“I get so frustrated with the color-in or check off ones. Missing one day makes me feel like I'm falling behind in life, but I need something that keeps me focused on actually completing these things: flossing, unloading and reloading the dish washer, etc.”

“It's extremely difficult to start new habits unless they're something I'm interested in. I've had no luck with habit tracking when it's anything I struggle with.”

“I'd like start forming some healthy habits as well, such as exercise, eating better, etc. But I haven't found any spreads that work for me”

“What features would you have, to get motivated? What would you make you come back, again and again, and not abandon your habits or goals?”

“So tracking became a reminder of my own failings and a toll on my mental health.”

“Not really in my opinion the best way for me to stay with something is to link it to a value of mine for motivation”

“i like to use finch. unlimited habits on the free version and you get to raise a little bird while you do it. they have a subreddit r/finch”

“I’ve had the most success with Habitica. It makes tracking habits and to do’s kind of like a cute 8 bit video game. I’m unmedicated at the moment so I use it on and off but I do like it a lot and wish it worked all the time :’)”

“Yeah everybody is not THAT different. I don't think they do as much as you would think. Just gives you a tiny amount of dopamine when you see you have a streak or something, but not enough to keep you going alone.”

“I used to track but I felt the same way as you... It became a reminder of how much I hadn't done more than what I had done. I love not having trackers now. It's been years and I'm not missing it.”

“I don’t get habit tracking, I’m just not that interested in that sort of information and I don’t think it’s part of the original premise either.”

“I see a lot of monthly habit trackers that are a whole page of habits, and though they do look really nice when people have them filled in, the idea of tracking that much gives me anxiety.”

“I found it overwhelming to log each individual task like skin care, brush teeth, etc. that I would just call it self care. But then because I wasnt specific enough, I let things slip-ish.”

“I started out tracking the following daily by making tables in my monthlies: brushing my teeth, reading, exercise, going to bed before midnight, no-spend-day, no-phone-scrolling-evening, eating well, steps, hours of sleep and stress level.”

“I think part of the issue is you’re being overly detailed with the tracking. The idea is literally to have the daily habits you want so that they become part of a routine, then an overall tracker should be a check in - as simple as “did I meet this goal? How to do it next month or maintain”?”

“I think I just need to embrace that I’ll be switching productivity systems ever month”

“I also have similar goals for next year because work has been chaos and ive neglected myself this year and have felt it in my low energy and mood. I know im not going to go straight from 0 exercise to 5 days a week of moderate and vigorous exercise, im setting myself up for failure to put that as my first goal so choose somehting realistic.”

“Use positive language. It will help you immensely. Example: If you want to reduce your out to eat expenses. Don't track how often you go out to eat. Track how often you eat all homemade meals.”

“I’ve heard of the “make goals specific” (read 15 min a day vs. read more) but never knew about the positive language thing. It makes so much sense. Looking back I notice things like “no spend” or “no soda” don’t last for me.”

“I agree it's also important to know where you stand before making a goal. Everyone wants to walk 10k steps a day but if you are only at 2k now it's going to be on your list forever until you see results.”

“Your goal would then be to track how you are spending or allocating free time from personal "non-stress" items. Even busyness can make you feel stress and stress would be a normal response in such circumstances. Track what you are doing with your freetime or set goals for when your free time will start instead of the tasks that you are already prescribed to do and have no control over.”

“I think bullet journals are popular among adhd people so 1. High levels of feeling like a failure going in 2. Rely on that dopamine hit of maintaining a complete checklist those missing boxes hurt!”

“Maybe add in some meditating or grounding techniques daily? Either when you first wake up, when you're sitting at a red light, when you get home, etc... and meditation/grounding can be any number of things, so you can make it work for you in whatever way you'll be most likely to stick with it.”

“I'm a big fan of "Adult-ris", where I assign each task to a different Tetris shape and when I do that task, I fit it into the grander puzzle on the next page.”

“Maybe instead of leaving them blank when you don’t do something, you also color in that day? So it doesn’t feel as bad lol. You could also only make checkboxes or circles (or whatever) for how often you actually want to do the habit instead of all 30-ish days.”

“Collect tally marks in a box under the Habit, instead of making a grid and coloring in each day. No grid. If your desired habit is Skywriting, you set yourself a reward (“When I get to 15 I get…”) and then you just try to get to 15.”

“I have a tracker specifically for stuff I want to do more but not necessarily in a set schedule. It has two parts. 1) two page spread that I color like a night sky and give myself star stickers on when I do the thing; 2) the next two pages where I write the date and a note of what I did AND a cheesy encouraging note on it.”

“I also can't do habit tracking in my bullet journal. If you still want to track, I like the [daylio app](https://daylio.webflow.io) for moods but you can also add goals.”

“I like the finch app, which gamifies habit tracking for me. I have a 60 day streak But it’s not for everyone”

“I prefer *habitnow*. Works smooth and looks good too. But the free version is limited to 7 habits.”

“This is it. The best habit tracker imo and I tried tens of them before finalizing it. Their detailed stats and features like monthly/yearly goal setting, notes, multiple reminders, priority, timer, interval timer, etc., are all amazing.”

“I use the Daylio app. There’s a section to track goals which I like. I’ve tried multiple other apps and none stuck until this one. Not sure why, but I have enjoyed it a lot!”

“Loop habit tracker. It is much simpler and straight forward compared to the others I've seen. More sleek and to the point.”

“I use the Atomic - Habit Tracker app, and it’s been a game changer for me. It helps me visualize my progress, which keeps me motivated, and I love that I can track different types of habits, like - Waking up early. - Going to the gym 3 days a week. - Eating 2 healthy meals. - Or running 5km every 2 days. - Stop playing video game.”

“Do you guys realise that all these apps mine your data, aggregate it, most likely sell your info to third party clients, and do a shit ton of other shady shit with it.”

“Best thing I ever heard about the internet was "if the service is free then you are the product"!”