Bullet Journal Habit Tracker + Ideas

While a habit tracker is not a core module of the Bullet Journal method, it is one of the well-known collections . Habit trackers line up with on of the purpose of a bullet journal – intentionality. Habit trackers are used to help build habits or track progress of daily activities. Ryder Carroll mentions the habit tracker briefly in The Bullet Journal Method. He says that maintaining a habit tracker makes it easy to monitor habits.

I track my habits in my bullet journal because:

1. They serve as a reminder for me to complete recurring tasks
2. When doing a review, I want to understand why I didn’t follow my routine that day (was I too busy? was I sick? was I on vacation?)

The items I list on my monthly trackers vary every month or every few months depending on what I feel like tracking – some of them gearing towards a personal goal.

Do you need a habit tracker?

As I’ve said, this is not a core collection but is a common custom collection in the bullet journal community. Some unknowingly track their habits or recurring daily activities like taking prescription medicine, for example. Instead of having them spread out in your daily logs, you can easily integrate it with your monthly log. This will give you an even clearer picture of your month.

Ryder has devised a simple habit tracker layout that’s can easily fit in the classic monthly log layout.

Habit trackers don’t necessarily have to be included in the monthly log but it is a simpler way to view it. Some bullet journalists prefer tracking habits weekly – especially if they have weekly layouts.

Habit Tracker Tips

1. If you’re new to it, don’t track too many habits (try limiting it to 3). Tracking too many things at the same time can be exhausting and will feel more like a chore.
2. Start with easy habits so that you can keep up with them e.g. drink water, take vitamins,
3. Try tracking “habits of avoidance” e.g. no junk food, drink less than 2 cups of coffee, no spend
4. Track habits that align with your personal goals e.g. read one chapter, practice language course on Duolingo, go to the gym
5. Review your habit tracker and assess your actions as the month ends

Keeping up with habit tracking

Planning in my bullet journal has already become part of my daily routine. The first thing I do (after breakfast) is to get my journal out, review what I did and did not do yesterday and then plan my day. Apart from that, my tracker was integrated with my monthly spread and it’s something that I won’t be able miss (I refer to my monthly spread because I usually write down a summary of the previous day in the calendar). It also helps that I’ve adapted a minimalist style because that takes the pressure off having to color/shade the boxes when I’ve completed the routine.

There are days that I’m unable to maintain the tracker – especially when I’m traveling or when I’m not in a mood to bullet journal. Missing a few days isn’t all bad. I don’t panic when I don’t fill out the tracker and you shouldn’t either. Think about it as a “these are the things that I’ve done for the day” rather than “you have to do all of these today” list.

Habit Tracker Examples

Most of the layouts here have habit trackers containing 5 or more habits to track. Not all of them are also integrated with monthly logs. Hopefully, you would still be able to get some ideas on what and how to track your habits. The simplest is Ryder’s example above and will work well for those who use the classic monthly log layout.

In 2017, I attempted to create a monthly layout that had a monthly log and a habit tracker in one page.