“All people are the same; only their habits differ.”
– Confucius, ancient Chinese teacher and philosopher
On the eve of the new year, I’m thinking a lot about habits. While journaling regularly boosts my mindfulness of the choices I make and how they affect me, I’ve discovered that tracking my habits in an app adds an extra layer of awareness. By taking a few seconds each day to log my daily activity into my phone, I ended up with a solid snapshot of my behavior patterns this month: the good and the bad.
While habit tracker apps are plentiful (http://bzfd.it/2CfNqsp), the one I found most useful is Daylio (http://bit.ly/2C1MOm1), an app that links how you feel as a result of your behavior. This month I’ve been tracking activities like exercise, household chores and how often I see my friends—as well as unhealthy choices I’ve made: eating sugary food, staying up too late and spending too much time with energy drainers.
While it’s motivating to see streaks of positive choices, such as doing cardio exercise three times a week, what has been even more reinforcing is the way I can track how much better I felt after making healthy decisions. And when I have unswerving proof that eating junk food has made me feel icky, it’s easier to ignore excuses and resist temptation. What began as an exploration of tools to help my wellness coach clients turned out to inspire me to make healthy choices more consistently.
What habits would you like to build? How might you support yourself along the journey?
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