What Habits to Track in
a Bullet Journal?
6 Aesthetic Ideas for
Your Bullet Journal

Building habits is hard enough… So why spend additional time and effort tracking them? Isn't it just another chore to tick off?

James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits and a leading authority on the subject, is a firm believer in habit tracking. Building a habit is a long-distance race, so you need an overview of your progress. When you're feeling out of steam, your tracker shows how much you've already accomplished and it will boost your motivation. And if you start falling off the wagon, you'll notice it immediately and get back on track before it's too late.

Last but not least, tracking habits can be a fun and motivating task if you've found the right tool among the countless habit apps and bullet journal ideas!

Bullet journals are all the rage on Pinterest and Instagram because they're cute, colorful, and infinitely customizable. Many people also include a habit tracker in their bullet journal. But are paper-based journals really better than high-tech tools?

Well, we've got the answer.

In fact, there's one productivity tool that's better than all the others. And it's the tool (or the combination of tools) that you will find fun, effective, and easy to stick to.

Experiment with different options. You can try doing your creative thinking in a paper journal while using apps to track your habits and routines. You can also keep track of your plans and commitments in an app but write your daily to-do list in a journal.

You can have the fanciest notebook and the most expensive gel pens, but if you're not using your bullet journal on a daily basis, it loses its value. You can invest quite a bit of money into the paid version of a fancy productivity app and have it just sitting on your phone for months.

Bullet journals have one major disadvantage. You can draw out all the habit tracker ideas that Pinterest has to offer, but your journal won't actually guide you towards building the habits you want.

If you feel that you need more guidance, try Habio. Unlike apps where you just tick off a to-do list of habits, Habio actually teaches you how to build habits and stick to them!

Habio uses scientifically proven methods to help you set clear goals, build healthy habits, and actually stay on track when most people have already fallen off the wagon. The Core Course will help you discover the mechanism that drives your habits - this way you know exactly how to reinforce your good habits and reprogram the ones that hold you back. This is something you won't find in a bullet journal.

But if you love bullet journals anyway… we've got some ideas for you!

The best thing about bullet journals is that they're so customizable. You can plan an entire month on a single page or you can dedicate a two-page spread to each day.

What are the best habits to track in a bullet journal? The possibilities are endless. You can track your water intake, your money habits, your workouts, the amount of time you spend with your loved ones - literally anything. You can use a variety of different habit trackers in your bullet journal, depending on your preferences and the kinds of habits you're tracking.

This habit tracker idea provides an instant visual overview of your progress. Draw a large glass jar. Then draw a blue marble in it whenever you drink a glass of water, a yellow one whenever you go to the gym, and so on - the habits and the colors are up to you!

Alternatively, you can keep a clear overview of your habits by tracking them in a monthly planner. There are two proven approaches:

• Draw a tiny calendar for each of the habits you're tracking and color the days when you've stuck to your habit.
  
• Create a single monthly tracker for all of your habits. This can be a simple grid or a beautifully color-coded work of art.
  
  

Monthly planners are perfect for habits that only require one action per day, like doing some stretches in the morning or avoiding coffee after 3 p.m.

You can let your artistic imagination run wild and design unique trackers for every habit. For example, if you want to drink 8 glasses of water every day, just draw eight drops of water on every page of your bullet journal and color them in as you go through the day.

For a habit related to personal growth, you can draw a long stem and add leaves and flowers to it whenever you perform your habit.

Tracking your mood is an excellent habit in itself. It can help you gain deep insights into your mental health and productivity.

By tracking your moods, you can observe how your new habits influence your well-being. After a few weeks of tracking, you'll have answers to questions like:

• Do I feel more energized on days when I do a yoga routine in the morning?
  
• Does cutting down on Facebook use reduce my anxiety?
  
• Do I feel happier on days when I take a walk in the park?
  

You can rank your mood on a scale of 1 to 5 or draw emoticons that reflect your mood. Experiment with different mood tracker layouts and see what works for you!

The circular grid is a beautiful tracker for several habits at once. It represents the entire month as a circle and every habit you're tracking has a designated row of grid cells that you color in if you've done a habit on that particular day.

This habit tracker is perfect if you're a visual thinker and love color-coding. However, you might want to download a printable bullet journal because the circular grid tracker is pretty tricky to draw.

Many people get so engrossed in tracking their days that they lose sight of their monthly and yearly goals. An annual goal tracker will help you set clear priorities and steer your creative energy towards accomplishing larger goals like starting a new business, completing a course, or improving your long-term health. Set SMART goals so that you can track your progress easily and objectively.

You can find lots of printable goal trackers if you don't have the time to invent your own layout. Just don't forget to check your annual goals and celebrate your progress regularly (at least once a month)!

Bullet journals can be used to track any habit that you're building at the moment. Try the six bullet journal ideas we've put together for you, or experiment with other types of trackers until you've come up with a beautiful and motivating productivity tool. And if you need additional support to help you build and maintain habits, enhance your journaling experience with a sophisticated app like Habio!