Tracking habits — why writing down what you do works

Tracking your habits — writing down when you do something, or when you don’t — is one of the most consistently effective aspects of any behavioural change. A major review of the research found that people who tracked their progress were more likely to achieve their goals, and the effect was greater when the tracking was written down or shared with someone. But this applies to tracking what you actually do, not simply collecting consecutive days. This distinction determines whether the log helps you or becomes yet another reason to give up.

Those who track their progress are more likely to reach their goal

Benjamin Harkin and his colleagues compiled over a hundred experiments in which people were asked to track their progress towards a goal — losing weight, exercising more, giving up smoking, or lowering blood pressure. Those who tracked their progress were more likely to achieve their goals than those who didn’t.

Two details are particularly useful. The effect was greater when the progress was recorded in some way, and when it was shared with someone else. Simply thinking about how things are going helps less than actually documenting it.

This is no new discovery. Self-observation is one of the fundamental techniques in cognitive behavioural therapy, precisely because it is rarely possible to change something you cannot see clearly.

Why it works

Habits largely occur without us noticing them. Wendy Wood and David Neal describe how a well-established habit is triggered by a cue and then runs its course automatically. This means we often have a misleading picture of how often we actually do something.

Writing it down breaks the automatic cycle just a little. To log something, you have to notice what you’re doing, and in that moment, an unconscious behaviour becomes conscious. That’s often where change begins — not in the intention, but in the act of seeing.

Log the moment, not just the result

The most common kind of log is a series of ticks: did I do it today or not? It says little about why. A more useful log also captures the circumstances:

• When did it happen? Time of day.
• Where were you?
• How were you feeling just before?
• What were you doing just before?

After a week, a pattern often emerges that was invisible before — that most of it happens after work, or when you’re alone, or when you’re bored. These are the clues that trigger the habit, and how to identify them is described in the article on the triggers behind habits.

Also make a note of when things go well. When you resisted the urge, what were you doing? That’s just as important.

Chains that break

Many habit apps are based on streaks: the number of consecutive days. This can be motivating at first. But a streak has a weakness: when it’s broken, it feels as though everything’s ruined. Thirty days in a row becomes zero in a single day, and that’s one of the most common moments when people give up completely.

It’s worth being honest about the fact that the research relates to tracking progress towards a goal, not necessarily streaks and points. A log showing that you’ve reduced your frequency from ten times a day to four is a success. A streak showing zero after a bad day suggests failure — even though it isn’t.

Count the proportion, not the streak. “Five out of seven days” is a better measure than “two days in a row”.

Plan for days you miss. Decide in advance what you’ll do when you miss a day: log it anyway, write down why, and carry on the next day. You could think of it as an ‘if-then’ plan.

Keep it simple

A log that takes ten minutes a day rarely lasts a week. Make it so simple that it can be filled in in a few seconds. A few words are enough. The important thing is that it gets done, not that it’s complete.

Show it to someone

Harkins’ review suggests that tracking is more helpful when it’s shared. It doesn’t have to be public. A friend, partner or colleague who knows what you’re trying to change and who occasionally asks how it’s going is enough.

Tracking is a building block, not the whole method. It shows you what’s happening, but the change comes from what you do with what you see — the full model is in the guide on breaking a habit.

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The Zenith Protocol is a 30-day impulse control programme with built-in tracking: every impulse you log is saved, so you can see the pattern over time. It’s free to get started.