health

How to Habit Track Successfully & Reach Your Goals (+ Free PDF Tracker)

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What do you do to hold yourself accountable and reach the goals of your dreams? Are you persistent, a go-getter, or do you find it hard to commit to your goals and truly turn it into a full fledged habit by tracking consistently? 

Are you reading this and wondering how people stick to their commitments when you can’t even meal prep more than just one random Sunday mayyybe once per month even though you planned on making it a weekly thing?

Or maybe you started a new workout regimen, got two weeks in and fell off the bandwagon? Whatever it may be I’d love to show you the habit tracker I use to make my dreams become reality.

Narrow Down Your Goals

Make a list of 2-3 big goals you’ve been dying to achieve. This may be something like getting fit, starting a new hobby, running more, etc.

If you end up writing down so many goals because you are just too excited to start and have high expectations of yourself, then stop right now. We can only take on so much at once, that’s why it’s better to remain focused on one task at a time, and once you master that you can add more on the next time around.

Set Action Steps

From these big goals write down action steps you can take to help those lovely dreams come true. I’d recommend starting with 4-5 at first to keep it manageable so you don’t burn out and you’ll also be more likely to complete the habits. 

This could be jogging 3x a week, yoga 2x a week, gratitude journaling daily, drinking 80oz of water daily. Be specific and think of how you’ll be able to measure your success. 

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Get Organized + Set a Routine

Feel free to download my printable tracker and leave it somewhere you’ll re-visit daily. I glued mine into a notebook and bring it to work to fill out during my lunch break. Some people rely on adding it to their morning or bedtime routine. Make sure it works for you! 

Think about what tasks you already do daily. Perhaps putting it next to your toothbrush isn’t such a bad idea? Or sticking it on the wall of your closet next to your clothes? Put it in your daily journal… or on your night stand?

Use your intuition, if you usually wake up the latest you possibly can before brushing your teeth and running out the door, then making this a daily morning task will not work out well. Just make sure you commit to doing it daily for 3 WHOLE MONTHS and have a routine planned ahead of time. 

Download My Tracker Here

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Start Habit Trackin’

Okay so you set your goals, figured out your action steps, and have your tracker in a conveniently accessible spot. Now what?

You start trackin’! Begin any day of the week or any time of the month and either check, cross, or color in each box when you make that habit happen. (Sometimes I love using colored markers… it just makes me happy- I feel like I achieved so much when I can physically color in a box.)

Now keep at it for 3 months and don’t give up! 

Need more habit examples?

Your habits can vary from being health oriented to being more financial based. It all depends on the goals you set for yourself. Here are a few habits that might help navigate you on the habit tracker journey:

  • Sleep 7-9 hours
  • Go to bed at 10:30pm nightly
  • Daily gratitude log
  • Meditate 15 minutes/day
  • Drink less than 1-2 alcoholic drinks 2x per week
  • Yoga 3x per week
  • Meal prep on Sundays
  • Eat out 2x per week
  • Read 1 chapter daily
  • Drink 80oz of water daily
  • Eating 2 cups of veggies with 2 meals a day
  • Turn off all electronics 2hrs before bed
  • Walk 10,000 steps per day
  • Do Pilates 5x per week
  • Bike to work daily
  • Walk to the park 4x a week
  • Workout in the morning 5x per week

It’s OKAY if you don’t follow your action steps 100% of the time. (I’m not even that good… that extra glass of wine here and there *cough *cough). 

The point is that you are starting to think about them on a daily basis and soon that will become a habit. This way, it will become second nature and you won’t even be intentionally thinking about doing it anymore.

Remember my friends, it takes 3 MONTHS for a habit to form. Please don’t get discouraged and quit after 1 month. Bad habits are hard to break, but they are breakable, just give it time.

So go download my form, or even write it out in your own journal. Heck, they even have apps for this now. Just DO IT. 

Happy habit trackin’ my friends!

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Download My Tracker
Contact Allison

How to Exercise Mindfully

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Note: may contain affiliate links. I might receive commission at no cost to you if you choose to use my link. Thanks for your support!

How do you incorporate healthy and mindful exercise into your daily routine? It’s really important that we find ways to move! Too many of us get stuck in a rut of sitting around at work all day (me included!!) and not going out to go on a walk or incorporating a bit of strength training. Healthy exercise is vital to take care of our bodies. So what will you do to make it happen in your life? Here are some important things to keep in mind when you choose to get your exercise on.

1. Do you enjoy it?

Or more specifically, does it make you happy even after you’ve sweated your ass off and ache the next day? I’m not saying it won’t be easy, but does it provide you gratification in the long run? 

For some people this could be CrossFit, whereas others it may mean a session of hot yoga. Each and everyone of us have unique bodies. For me it changes on a day to day basis. Some days I really want to run 4+ miles or do CrossFit, and other days a 20 minute yoga session is all I can muster up. 

Adding additional stress to your body also WILL NOT help. So if you’ve been completely stressed at work, pounding the gym hard for 3 hours straight will add to additional spirality of stress and make it harder for you to recover. I’m talking  emotionally and  physically. Your body knows when it’s under stress and will release more cortisol which will make you retain more body fat and in turn have the opposite effect of what you were expecting. Healthy exercise can be challenging, but it shouldn’t deplete you everyday.

TRY THEM OUT

Try out some new exercises you've never done before to spice up your routine. I definitely crave variety. Attend a new barre class, try hot yoga, sign up for a 5k or half marathon, do CrossFit. If you're an at home exerciser buy some resistance bands, 10lb dumbells and search for WOD workouts on Pinterest (check out the ones I pinned!). Get out of your comfort zone. You won't know if you hate it unless you try!

2. Do you do it to manipulate your body size? 

I was this person in the past. I used to think that the more I exercised, the better I’d look and feel.  I’d even go so far to be that person that thought they had to “punish” their bodies for eating something so that meant I HAD to workout extra the next day. Now, I try to listen to my body. If and when (because it does still happen) I overeat I just rest it out. 

Due to social media and diet culture a lot of us are petrified of gaining weight and trying to look our “best”. We are told to do “insert fad diet here” or try out this 20 minute ab workout every day for 1 month to see results. These aren’t lifestyle changes. They will not last and in my opinion they aren’t a very fun way to live life. What if we exercised FOR our bodies rather than to MANIPULATE our bodies to be something they aren’t? Your body has a healthy set point, trying to make it any smaller than this can cause a lot of wear and tear on it and your body won’t perform the way you want it to in the long run.

3. How do you make it a habit? 

I’m a big big advocator of changing your attitude from “I have to do this” to “I want to do this”. So how do you do it? Consistency. If you are a routine person this means doing it the same time each day and scheduling it into the calendar on your phone. If you enjoy the community aspect or being motivated by others this may mean joining CrossFit or getting a personal trainer to hold you accountable. It may mean doing things you LOVE to do like planning hiking trips biweekly with your significant other or going on walks after dinner.

Exercise doesn’t have to be hateful, it just needs to be tailored to your needs. Yeah, you may not feel like doing it every day and thats ok. Especially in the beginning, but overtime it becomes routine that you’ll want to do. As long as you make REALISTIC goals you will be able to achieve a healthy lifestyle. 

FITNESS APPS

Habit Tracker, Down Dog, and Nike Run are my favorite health apps to use, I recommend trying them out! 

I LOVE THESE RESISTANCE BANDS

Check them out on amazon. I’ve had them for quite some time now and they work so well! I take them everywhere with me when I travel. They are perfect for pilates workouts.
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If you want to learn more about how to incorporate healthy into your daily routine or have any additional questions contact me at info@livingwellwithallison.com.

What kind of healthy exercise do you love doing? What have you wanted to try before? Do something out of the box and give it a try!