People tend to let themselves off the hook and take the easy way out much more often than they realize. Often, we hold on to an image or identity that we have of ourselves and let that image distort our reality.When you track yourself you have factual evidence of your slip-ups, making you less likely to mindlessly justify them or pretend they didn’t happen.

Stop Lying Yourself

When you don’t track your habits you’re more likely to talk yourself out of certain activities when you don’t feel like doing them. Tracking reminds and confronts you with your failures, effectively punishing you.Tracking also gamefies your habits, providing extra motivation to being consistent. That sets a chain reaction of benefits in motion that starts to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Being Productive Through Tracking

<ul><li>You can use tracking apps, sheets or a journal to track your behavior.</li><li>Decide which habits you want to track.</li><li>Decide on a timeframe for tracking.</li><li>Set a target for how many times you want to successfully follow each habit in your chosen timeframe.</li><li>Decide on which days you want to do which habits, or even schedule it in your calendar.</li><li>Mark successful and unsuccessful habit executions.</li></ul>

Effectively Tracking Habits

A success rate gives you a number that informs your performance analysis. You will shortly be able to see if you’ve improved or not.Calculate your ‘success rate’ to measure your progress over time. The formula is: Success Rate = (Completed Amount / Target Amount) * 100%.

Success Rate

<div>
<a href="https://medium.com/@jariroomer?source=post_page-----78732affebe6----------------------"><img src="https://miro.medium.com/fit/c/96/96/1*huCEDiGwCd1-S8oGHDjxQQ.jpeg"> </a> As humans, we have this tendency to let ourselves off the hook and take the easy way out much more often than we fully realize. Oftentimes, we hold on to an image or identity that we have of ourselves and let that image distort our reality.
For example, someone who sees his or himself as an avid meditator is likely to skip more meditation sessions than he or she actually realizes. An avid reader might actually skip more reading sessions than he or she is actually aware of. Because meditation or reading is a part of their identity, they think and feel they're doing it more than they are in reality ( except for those few who truly do it every single day).
This is something that happens to many of us, as most people don't track their own habits and behaviour. And when you only have your self-image to rely on instead of the actual numbers, you are prone to massive blind spots that sabotage your productivity and success.
As I experienced such blind spots a few weeks ago myself, I decided to track my own habits and behaviour so that I could uncover the truth. I must say, I'm surprised at what I found.
<h2>You Stop Bullsh*tting Yourself</h2>
Physical exercise is a big part of my identity. Ever since I was 4 years old I've always been doing sports. Whether it was football as a kid, kickboxing when I was older or, my latest endeavour, doing gruesome obstacle runs. Not to stroke my own ego, but I have quite a muscular physique that I regularly receive compliments on ( after re-reading this a few times, I realize this sounds quite douchebag-ish). In other words, I see myself as an athlete - it's part of my identity.
And that's where things can go wrong.
<figure>Me getting some help from a friend during my latest obstacle run </figure> You see, the last 1-2 months I've actually hardly exercised according to my own standards. Yet, because exercise is such a big part of my identity, it still felt like I was exercising a lot. I still saw myself as an athlete despite not exercising that much. In other words, I was bullsh*tting myself.
However, as soon as I started tracking my habits, I was visually confronted with the fact that I wasn't exercising that much anymore. I dropped my exercise habit without even realizing it.
But, now that I track my habits, including the number of times I exercise per week, I can no longer bullsh*t myself. I'm forced ( in a good way) to act according to the truth, not some mental image I created of myself.
We continuously bullsh*t ourselves - literally 24/7. We hold on to images or identities from the past and that makes us think and feel we're still crushing it like in the old days, but in reality, we aren't. Therefore, tracking your habits is so incredibly important. It serves as a fail-proof system against your own biases and blind spots.
<h2>You Become Highly Productive</h2>
Personally, I noticed that ever since tracking my habits, I actually consistently do them. In the past, when I didn't track my habits yet, I would've definitely talked myself out of certain activities on those days or moments where I didn't feel like it. Except for a few seconds of disappointment in myself, I wouldn't be confronted with my undisciplined decision anymore. In other words, I kind of got away with it.
Nowadays, however, when I skip a habit I'm confronted with a big red mark on my habit tracker. In other words, I experience the pain multiple times per week - and that's something you definitely want to avoid after you've experienced it a few times.
Furthermore, by tracking my habits it becomes much more of a game that I want to complete successfully instead of it feeling like I have to discipline and force myself - which always contains a bit of a negative load.
All in all, tracking my habits has been key in making sure that I consistently do it while enjoying it more as well - and that sets a chain reaction of benefits in motion that starts to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
For example, now that I exercise more, I have more energy. And because I have more energy, I'm able to be more productive and get more done. This, in turn, makes me feel really good about myself and serves as extra motivation to continue with my exercise habit.
And, because I now consistently follow my <a href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/5-steps-to-effectively-prepare-for-a-highly-productive-day-3dd2303da9c4">nighttime routine</a>, I'm better prepared for the following day, gain more clarity, have better focus and sleep better - which all, in turn, lead to increased productivity the next day. This makes me more motivated to continue with my nighttime routine.
<h2>How To Effectively Track Your Habits</h2>
Tracking your habits is actually very easy. There are many habit-tracking apps out there which you can download for free ( I remember using the app 'Habit Loop' for a while) or you can use a journal and manually track your behaviour. Personally, I prefer to use an excel sheet that I made myself.
<figure>As you can see, I fell behind on reading and breathwork. Now that I have the facts, I can focus on improving both during the next week. </figure> First, decide which habits you want to track. Whether it's meditation, exercise, journaling, visualization, cleaning your house, doing deep work - whatever you want to track.
Then, decide on your timeframe for tracking the habit. For example, I track my habits using a 7-day timeframe ( Monday to Sunday), but you can also use a 30-day timeframe - it doesn't really matter.
After that, you set a target for how many times you want to successfully follow each habit in your chosen timeframe. For example, my goal is to visualize 5x in a 7-day timeframe.
Now, you decide on which days you want to do which habits ( and if you really want to take a peak performance approach, schedule it in your calendar). For example, I want to visualize each day from Monday to Friday.
Each day that you successfully complete a habit, you mark it green or you use a symbol you want. Every day you don't complete a habit ( when you were supposed to), you mark it red.
Now, you need to calculate your 'success rate' so that you can measure your progress over time. This is the formula for calculating the success rate:
<blockquote>
(Completed Amount / Target Amount) * 100% = Success Rate 
</blockquote>
Using this success rate, you have an actual number that you can keep track of to analyze your own performance. A few weeks from now you can see whether you've improved or whether you've fallen off track. Essentially, you're quantifying your own behaviour, and that's one of the best ways to stop bullsh*tting yourself, become more productive and eventually become more successful.
<h2>Now Do It</h2>
I highly recommend you start tracking your own habits and behaviour if you want to consistently be more productive, accelerate your personal growth and reach higher levels of success.
By tracking your habits, you can no longer silently sabotage your own success as you're quantifying your behaviour - and that's extremely powerful.
To Your Personal Growth,
Jari Roomer
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As humans, we have this tendency to let ourselves off the hook and take the easy way out much more often than we fully realize. Oftentimes, we hold on to an image or identity that we have of ourselves and let that image distort our reality.

Why Tracking Your Habits Will Make You More Productive, Consistent And Successful

Stop Lying Yourself

Being Productive Through Tracking

Effectively Tracking Habits

Success Rate

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