Simple right.

So if eating a healthy breakfast was important to you – instead of, let’s say, running out the door and grabbing a coffee on the way to work – then that’s what you would do. You would write “ate healthy breakfast” in the left column and then put an x under each day that you ate the healthy breakfast on.

I mean, no one is scratching their heads with this one.

But, while this is an extremely simple activity, it is actually a very effective one.

And for two reasons…

1. See the progress

By putting an x on your calendar when you went to gym, for example, you get to see your progress almost immediately, instead of having to wait weeks or months to start seeing the physical results. So the habit tracker provides a visual representation of your progress thus making it tangible.

And seeing that progress will make you want to carry on – it will make you want to see more progress.

…and so on, and so on.

Now, here is another big benefit, and bear with me on this one…

2. Come to terms with your bad habit

Can you guess how much time the average person spends on social media every day? Well the global average is 2.5 hours. Yes, that’s right, 2.5 hours per day!…and you’re probably saying – well, not me!

And sure, I don’t know you, but unless you’re not really into social media then how about monitoring your usage one day and seeing what it comes to?

It could like something like this:

It’s Monday morning. You shower, get dressed and off to work you go. When at work, you check your mails first thing followed by checking your social media accounts for 20 minutes. You know, just to see who’s doing what in the world.

At lunch you chat to a colleague for a bit and then you’re back on social media for 20 minutes. Maybe somebody likes something you’ve said right?

Then back at home, you make a cup of coffee, get cosy on the couch, and check it again for 30 minutes. Beat the boredom!

Finally, in bed you relax with a 20-minute session. The last dose for the day.

So, I’m sure you’re starting to see how that adds up. Let’s work it out…20+20+30+20.

Total is 1.5 hours. Hmmm…..? That’s quite a lot isn’t it?

Once again, I don’t know you, but even if you only spend an hour on social media, think about what that means over the course of a week. 7 hours right. What about a month? 30 hours. What about a year? 365 hours. — 365 hours!…of doing what actually? Well, nothing of any value right? Posting and liking and commenting and sharing.

Think about what you could do with that time…

·      You could read 52 books – a book a week – and start a well-informed blog or YouTube channel due to that. And so, that could be the start of your dream career.

·      You could learn interior design or 3D design, and design your dream home.

·      You could learn about investing – investing is a long game and you’d have 1100 hours in three years! That would translate into some value for you wouldn’t it?

·      How about learning another language? Perhaps that’s something you’ve always wanted to do, but just “didn’t have the time”?

·      Or you could literally learn anything you want to and start your journey towards the best version of yourself! Within a few years you could transform your life. Now doesn’t that sound appealing?

So anyway, you get the point here. Using a habit tracker allows you to clearly see what you’re doing with your time and therefore how you’re living your days.

It allows you to be driven by your good habits, and to come to terms with your bad habits.

So the good habits you’ll want to do more of, because doing them makes you feel good. And the bad habits you’ll want to do less of, because doing them makes you feel bad. Simple. But that’s how we change.