We recently published the first in a two-part blog series discussing habit tracking. We have been looking at different types of habits we can all track for purposes of self-improvement. Hopefully, you have read and benefited from that first post. Now we move on to the second.
The first post covered fitness, financial, and nutrition habits. This post will look at three more categories. As always, you can use the habit tracker built in to the Next Level Daily Planner to track your habits.
Type #4: Work Habits
Unless you are independently wealthy and have too much on your plate to actually hold a job, you must work for a living. Welcome to the club. The fact that you do work suggests that you also have daily work habits. Try tracking those habits to see if you can find ways to improve how you do what you do.
Some of the more common work habits people track include:
- Time spent dealing with email
- Time spent at lunch or on breaks
- Missed lunches and breaks due to work demands
- Time spent in meetings or consultations
- The frequency of repetitive tasks
- How often deadlines are missed or made
The point of tracking work habits is to become a more efficient worker. You shouldn't have to kill yourself to get your daily work done. If you are killing yourself, perhaps some better habits would help.
Type #5: Relationship Habits
It is hard to talk about work habits without also talking about family. That elusive work-life balance we all struggle to achieve directly affects the relationships we have with our families. In light of that, tracking relationship habits can offer a more accurate picture of how effectively we are achieving balance.
Relationship habits you can track include:
- The amount of time spent with family
- The activities you do with your family
- How often you sit and talk with your partner
- How often you and your partner enjoy intimacy
It is often said that the quality of time spent with loved ones is more important than the quantity. That's true only to a certain point. If the amount of time we spend with our families is minimal, we may find it difficult to make it quality time. Tracking relationship habits can shed some light on how we are doing.
Type #6: Spiritual Habits
We human beings are not just lumps of flesh. In addition to our physical bodies, we also have a spiritual side. We have minds, thoughts, and emotions. All of them work together to define who we are as individuals. In light of that, tracking spiritual habits can help us better understand how we are doing in those areas that are above and beyond the physical.
Here are some spiritual habits you can track:
- Time spent meditating/contemplating/praying
- The frequency with which you express gratitude
- Opportunities you have to help others
- Your daily moods and how frequently they change
- Time spent appreciating nature
Just remember that you alone define your spiritual journey. The spiritual habits you wish to track may not necessarily be the same as someone else's. Come to think of it, this is true of all your habits.
Whether you use our habit tracker or not, remember this one important thing: don't overwhelm yourself by trying to change all your bad habits overnight. Habit tracking is about setting reasonable and achievable goals. Cut yourself some slack and give yourself permission to go at your own pace. Taking your time and doing it right is the way to transform new habits into permanent habits.