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MK

Apr 25, 20216 min read

How To Form A Healthy Habit +Healthy Habit Tracker Free Printable

Updated: Jun 26, 2022

Determined to meet a goal but having trouble keeping track of all the little steps? Get the healthy habit tracker free printable here in this post to help! It comes in A5, personal, HP Mini, and letter size. (from ACOP)

Forming Healthy Habits to Reach Giant Goals

One of the many things I've learned as an elite athlete is that our major goals will not happen without taking a million teeny tiny steps - steps so small that they hardly feel powerful.

Combined though, the power of a thousand small steps leads us straight to our biggest dreams.

Since these smaller steps are so important, turning them into functional habits is key to reaching our bigger goals.

Turning something into a habit isn't always the easiest thing to do, but learning how to form healthy habits that stick is possible.

And honestly, it can be pretty simple! A healthy habit tracker can help keep you focused and organized.

If you're finding it difficult to stay on top of the small important things, there is a simple format you can follow to form a healthy habit. Using a simple tracker template can remind you of tasks and hold you accountable.

A lot of my fitness habits come from years of coaching, accountability of teammates, and external factors like my schedule.

Certain things, like foam rolling my muscles for recovery, became habits because we were told to do it during certain practices.

To this day, there are certain drills I'll do before a weight room session.

Life gets busy though, and structured days seem to fall apart and it becomes harder and harder to keep up with little things.

We know we need habits to stay healthy, but we either forget to to do them or frankly, just ignore them and do other things.

Seriously, even when you know you need to do something, failure to establish the action as a habit can mean it doesn't get done sometimes.

I was finally so tired of this cycle of forgotten healthy habits, I decided to take action and learn how to form healthy habits using a habit tracker.

What Is A Healthy Habit Tracker?

While it varies by person and the habit, it takes on average 66 days for a habit to become automatic. Habits are any of the little daily things we do that help us meet our larger goals and keep our life schedules on track.

A simplified example:

A goal would be to be able to touch my toes and hold for 10 seconds by the winter.

A habit would be to do a routine of 3 different stretches every other day of the week.

A lofty goal, like having a healthy diet, isn't just something that happens every day or overnight.

This goal is made up of a lot of different things, maybe:

getting enough vegetables,
watching calories, or
taking supplements.

That's only part of it and that's already a lot!

Huge goals like this can seem daunting when you look at the big picture.

That's where a healthy habit tracker comes in!

A good habit tracker template can make the process of reaching your goals feel way more manageable.

A simple habit tracker takes a huge goal and breaks it down into smaller, manageable steps. You can keep track of the changes you're making and make sure you're keeping up with them.

Tips For Using A Habit Tracker

The first step to take when developing healthy habits is identifying the larger goal you want to achieve or the problem you are looking to fix.

From there, you can break down this goal into small, reasonable actions that will lead you to your goal.

The best habit tracker templates have a very simple design. (In my opinion!)

All it needs is a space for the name of the habit you wish to form and boxes that represent each day of the week that you can check off each time you perform the action.

There are a lot of different habit trackers online to look at for inspo, but you know I love to keep things simple.

A minimal and straightforward design without fluff allows you to focus on the good stuff.

If you wanted a monthly habit tracker you could even print out an actual calendar template and check it off daily as you go through your habit.

Pro tip: Place your habit tracker in a place that you will always see it. This could be inside your daily planner or taped to the wall next to the coffee machine or another place in your home you know that you'll see it.

I've taped one on the wall right next to my bedside table to make sure I stretched before bed!

The Benefits Of Using A Habit Tracker

There are actually numerous benefits to using a healthy habit tracker. Most likely you'll feel each of these benefits once you commit to using your habit tracker!

Here are some of the top benefits of tracking your habits:

1) Habit Trackers Give You Motivation

If you're a "to-do" list lover like I am, you know that half of the reason we love to-do lists is the feeling you get once you check something off!

Side note, have you ever put something reallllly simple like "get out of bed" or "open laptop" on your to-do list just to feel productive when you cross it off? I'm super guilty of this; it feels so good!

Productive habit trackers are also simple visual reminders that you got something done.

You took a step towards your goals. Seeing progress is huge for motivation, which is one of the reasons I extremely recommend tracking your fitness.

Just a quick glance at all of the days filled out on the habit tracker keeps you motivated to keep doing them.

Especially on those days when you're doubting your progress or feeling discouraged.

2) Give Yourself Accountability By Using A Habit Tracker

While healthy habit trackers are great for motivation because they show you how far you've come, they also can show you why you may not be making the profess you think you should be.

If you can visually see which habits you've let fall to the wayside, you know what you need to get better at.

For example, if you're trying to get in better physical shape and feel like you should be further towards your goal, a quick look at the last month's habit tracker will remind you what you haven't gotten done.

And that's okay!

That's what they're there for - to hold you accountable and remind you to take care of those little things that are going to add up when you commit.

Habit trackers remind you to act.

3) Tracking Habits For A Sense of Control

We have a lot going on.

A lot.

In the chaos of modern life, we all definitely have those days where we feel overwhelmed and like we aren't on top of all of the things that we need to be.

Proper use of a habit tracker can give you a sense of control and remind you that you're getting stuff done- even if you feel overwhelmed.

Sometimes I feel like I've dropped the ball- repeatedly. Simply looking at my habit trackers reminds me to breathe and think about my large goals and passions as simple, actionable steps that I can take.

4) Consistency Is Important, But Difficult To Build

If you ask anyone who is super successful at what they do how they got so successful, their answer is more likely than not going to include something about consistency.

Identifying necessary lifestyle changes or determining what you need to be doing to reach your goals is only part of the battle.

Consistency is so important when you're going after your goals. You have to show up.

Habit trackers make it easy for you to stay consistent because they remind you to act and help you keep track of what you've done.

It's difficult to build consistency without an organized plan and using a habit tracker can take some of the work off of your hands and turn important actions into second nature.

Healthy Habit Tracker Ideas

Now that we've covered why habit tracking is a good idea, what exactly can you track in a habit tracker?

Like I said, you should come up with healthy habit tracker ideas by breaking down a larger goal into smaller, actionable steps that can be tracked and help you reach that goal.

Cough, cough...like tracking your fitness goals. 🙂

But since habit trackers can be used for literally anything that you want to focus on, let's look at a list of some great healthy habit ideas to add to your tracker.

Here are some great habit tracking ideas that you can use with your habit tracker.

writing in your journal for 10 minutes
taking daily supplements
doing a core workout 3 times a week
flossing your teeth
eating 2 raw vegetables a day
going on a daily 1 mile walk
weekly bathroom cleaning
praying
watering the plants
eating a piece of fruit
stretching before bed
how much water you drink in a day
30 min - 1 hour breaks from computer
going outside
cleaning your bedroom
making the bed
folding your clothes
reviewing your planner
drinking a protein shake
eating certain foods you need more of
running
strength workouts
recovery routines
getting enough sleep

Ready To Get Started Reaching Your Goals?

Start by taking a few minutes to think about your larger goals.

Is there an objective you've always wanted to meet but have trouble forming the consistency needed to reach it? Break down this goal into reasonable, actionable steps that you can track each day, week, or month.

If you haven't grabbed it already, I have an entire running and fitness planning guide that goes into a bit more detail. It comes with 8 planning pages that I use myself to keep track of things and reach my fitness goals.

If you need some motivation to go after some goals, start there. You can snatch the download here.