TIL my habit tracker wasn't tracking anything useful for 8 months

I started bullet journaling back in January to keep up with exercise and reading goals. Every day I'd fill in a little box for 'worked out' or 'read 20 pages' without really thinking about it. Last week I flipped back and realized I was just coloring boxes without actually changing my habits. Idk why it took me that long to notice I was just making the spread look nice instead of using it honestly. So I redid my whole tracker this week with just 3 simple prompts like 'what did I actually do today?' instead of yes/no checkboxes. Anyone else ever look back at months of trackers and realize they were basically just doodling?

2 comments

2 Comments

blair_davis12d ago

Oh man, this is way too real. I did the same thing with my habit tracker for like 6 months straight. I had this whole grid for water intake, but I was just coloring in the boxes at night without actually drinking any more water during the day. Felt pretty dumb when I flipped back and saw all those cute little filled squares that meant nothing. Finally changed it to a simple daily journal check-in that forces me to actually think about what I did, not just check a box.

susan_ward12d ago

Nah, that's not even the real trap. The real problem is when you get GOOD at the habit, then the tracker becomes useless. Like I drank water fine for years before I started tracking it. The tracker didn't teach me anything new, it just made me anxious about filling boxes. Habits are supposed to become automatic. You don't need to track something you already do without thinking. That's a whole different kind of pointless.