90 Days: Behavior Tracking - I've lost my mind

My backpack currently holds a 2019 and 2020 life planner and four moleskin journals, all of which were originally intended for a specific writing purpose, but now have random notes on work tasks, goals, finances, to-do's, and shopping lists.

As much as I'd love for my personal planner to look like Elyssa Nalani's, with clear morning routines, time blocks, work/personal to-do lists...

...it actually looks like this.

In addition to my planner, I have been trying to keep a weekly schedule on the fridge as an accountability buddy so that I have all of my major goal tasks in one clear place.

Behavior tip: If it's written down with an exact time and day, it's more likely to get accomplished.

I also have a whiteboard monthly calendar where I keep track of major dates and important notes...

...and also tracked my habits for two months using the paper tracker below...

...and have been digitally tracking my top five goal behaviors using the HabitBull app for the past month...

...and tracking my running progress using my FitBit app.

Is your heart rate beating faster just from that quick scroll? Mine too. Let me refer to my other FitBit screen for that piece of data. 60 beats per minute.

The lesson already learned here is that this is too fucking much.

I'm a visual person who likes to see trends, patterns, and clear areas for improvement. However, this tracking strategy is overwhelming and scattered - the exact opposite of what I'm setting out to do here in the first place.

I want to keep this 18 month adventure as simple and intentional as possible, so I need to figure out a way where I can combine the scheduling of activities and events with the tracking of behaviors and resulting data in ONE place. If I have to look in seven different spots to find what the heck I'm working toward that day/week/month/year, I'm making behavior reinforcement far more difficult than it needs to be.

I liked the idea of using a habit tracking app because you can set it up exactly how you'd like, with your specific goals, daily behavior reminders, and success % rates. Plus, it's easily stored on a phone that you probably have within 10 feet of you at all times. However, with the basic app plans, until you upgrade, you're limited to how many habits you can track. The app is great for activity tracking, but not so great for scheduling of life events and obligations, so it would still require me to use another calendar to keep my life organized.

There are a TON of free habit-tracking apps out there right now, including:

1. HabitBull (I liked this one the most after testing out a few others)

2. Momentum

3. Productive

4. Streaks

5. Strides

Visit Lifehack for a full app list breakdown to see which one might suit your needs the best.

Matt D'Avella recently tracked every minute of his life for three months. He wanted to see where he could be more productive as he took on more work projects in an already packed schedule. Matt tracked every minute on his Google Calendar, color coordinating each activity so that he could easily see where his time was going. Workouts, meetings, phone calls, commutes, writing, video shooting - everything - was tracked.

Google Calendar is an intriguing option because it's digital, easy to use/modify, tracks any type of activity or behavior, and can be set up with reminder alerts. While I probably won't be as diligent as Matt in his minute-by-minute tracking, I'd like to test out this same strategy so that I can see the most important stuff in ONE freaking place.

I'll probably be mortified by how much time I waste refreshing my email and Instagram feeds, but I think it's important to see how much time I spend mindlessly scrolling when I could be liberating my creative side or earning extra income to put toward a trip to Hawaii. I'd much rather be able to afford a few vacations next year than have expertise on everyone's daily IG stories, but for some reason I still went on zero international trips this year and instead am now intimately familiar with the daily lives of internet strangers.

Alright, gotta get to work! Let the intense calendaring begin!