I know, I know. There are habits you should never track? Unheard of. Pinterest and Instagram would have you believe that every little life habit needs to be checked off and color-coded to “count”. Well, I’m here to tell you to take a deep breath.
Iām in my busy-girl-era. Between grad school, wedding planning, and general housework, I am working non-stop from 8 am to 10 pm. Please know, I really donāt recommend this. But what else can you do when you get ENGAGED (yay) right before the last semester of your Masterās program? Needless to say, habit tracking has been essential.
My journaling habit is flexibleāit bends with me and my life. I havenāt been so hard on myself when I donāt get in a couple of pages every day. But that doesnāt mean I am not journaling.
Lately, I have focused most on my planner and tracker apps to record my thoughts, gratitudes, and goals. It is a quick little āhackā I do to keep up with the routine of writing when time is tight. I love a good habit tracker. Nothing feels better than crossing a goal off your list. In fact, it may feel too good.
A while back, I realized that I became a little obsessive with tracking every little thing. Every day Iād mark whether I wrote a poem, read for an hour, did a hair mask, trimmed my nails, ate a banana, etc., etc., etc. I was unhinged. These lists were not sustainable.
So, with a little self-control, I learned what is helpful (and what is hurtful) to track. I made 4 rules for myself. I hope they help you as much as they help me.
1. Never TrackāCouldasā
Spend 2 seconds looking at bullet journals and you will find thousands of habits you *could* track. From no-spend days to language learning, the journaling FOMO can get real. Wouldnāt your life be better if you too tracked your bubble bath frequency? No. I meant it, no.
If a habit doesnāt directly tie to your life goals, it is not worth the mental energy. Sure, maybe tracking your visualization habit will improve your quality of life. If that sounds true to youātrack away! The problem comes when you track it simply because others are tracking it too.
There is real harm to a long laundry list of daily tasks (which I will get to later in this post). Remember, there is a difference between what you ācouldā track and what you āshouldā track.
Ā
2. Never Track Things You Canāt Change
Like I said, there is nothing more satisfying than checking off a goal from your to-do list. But that also means it sucks when you miss the mark. You gotta admit, habit tracking adds a little pressure.
So why make it hard on yourself? When tracking your goals and habits you should only mark down things that are 100% in your immediate control. This means opting to track the number of times you wash your face NOT the amount of acne you have.
This also means you shouldnāt be tracking your weight that closely (unless you need records for medical purposes of course). First of all, I am a true believer that ādiets donāt workā. Intuitive eating is the way to go! In any case, weight is an outcome, not a behavior. You can take steps to live a healthier lifestyle. You can track those steps. But tracking things like weight will only leave you feeling defeated. These things are definitely habits to never track.
** The Exception**
I like to think of habit tracking as an experiment. You are just testing different things until you find a lifestyle that makes you feel good and fulfilled. That said, you need to know how you are feeling day-to-day. How else would you know the experiment is working?
You are always allowed to track your mood and emotions. You may not have control over these things but they are important tools. They teach you about the way your life is going.
“But Allie,” you say, “weight changes and acne can also teach us about what is going on with our bodies!“
Yes. Sure. True. But, they donāt 100% correlate. Sadness and anger always tell us when discomfort is present. Weight and acne arenāt always a sure sign of stress.
So go ahead and mood-track with that rainbow palette. Itās cute and helpful.
Ā
3.Ā Never Track Calories
No, Iām not off this soap box yet.
Calorie trackers simply are not accurate. Researchers have found that most products overestimate calories burned on ellipticals by 100 calories. The FDA allows for a 20% error on calories listed on the packaging. In or out ā there is no accessible way to track your calorie flow. So why, God why, would you track calories?
I am not an expert on diet or the issues that surround eating. Please, please, refer to a licensed dietician when it comes to your personal health goals. However, I am a person who used to track calories when I was trying to both lose weight AND gain weight. Lemme tell ya, it never worked.
It made me really get down to the root of what I wanted out of food. Of course, the taste was up there (as it should be). But also energy, strength, memory, and good sleep. Calories arenāt the best tool to predict those things.
4.Ā Never Track A Fourth Habit
One time a friend came to me asking why she couldnāt keep up with her habits. She was motivated, she was confident, but she just couldnāt get everything checked off. When I asked her what she tracked, she sent back two paragraphs of habits.
Ding, Ding, Ding. I think we know why the habits werenāt sticking.
In my first post ever, I talked about why you should only introduce one habit at a time. Humans have limits and we will NOT be spending all our energy on tracking every habit ever. You have to draw the line somewhere. I draw the line at three.
Adding a fourth, fifth, and sixth habit may make it look like you have your stuff together. Really all it does is set an unrealistic standard. All that pressure makes it hard to focus and build truly deep habits.
This doesnāt mean you can only track the same three habits forever. Eventually, some habits will become second nature and you can move on to something else. Pace yourself! You have your whole life to build healthy habits. Use that time to the fullest.
Personally, I currently track my protein intake, my language lessons, and my skincare. Each of these goals relates to something that I really, really, really want out of life. Protein, unlike calories, always gives me energy. My Croatian lessons help me connect with my fiancĆ©ās culture. My skincare has given my the best complexion of my adult life. These are the habits I want to develop now. These are the habits I need.
If you canāt decide on three, spend 30 minutes writing about your ideal life. How do you walk? How do you talk? If a goal doesnāt directly help that vision, get rid of it.
5.Ā Bonus Thought
These rules are my rules. You can obviously make your own. In fact, you should! Everyone tracks their habits for different reasons. I only share this list because it was hard-earned. Like I said, I have been obsessed with habit tracking in the past. So much so that I lost sight of the vision. I donāt want that to happen to you. So, that’s why you should always have a list of habits to never track. It will ground you. And we all need a little bit of that (especially in our busy girl eras).
