166. Gamify Your Habits with Apps
How to approach habit tracking apps
When Michelle and I heard that James Clear, author of the renowned book Atomic Habits, launched Atoms, a habit-tracking app, we had to try it for ourselves. Michelle and I are HUGE fans of James Clear, to the point where Michelle may have had a less-than-wholesome dream about him ;). (ahahaha that’s what happens when you let me write the newsletter, Michelle!) He is the captain of our generation’s habit-forming ship.
James Clear, the Tom Brady of self-development
Putting Habit Tracking Apps
Michelle and I tested out four different habit-tracking apps
Atoms- James Clear’s new identity-based App
Habit Tracker- A classic checkbox-style tracker
Everyday- An aesthetic “don’t break the chain” style tracker
The Notes App- Yes, the yellow notepad that comes preloaded on every iPhone
In our habit-tracking journey, we saw some recurring themes regarding habit tracking.
Here are some of our big takeaways…
Start with a habit that matches your “One Thing”: Based off the book The One Thing, this idea centers around starting with a habit that matches your ultimate life goal. For example. Michelle’s goal for this year is to write a book. A habit that would match this goal would be writing for at least 15 minutes a day.
Start with a keystone habit: A keystone habit is a habit that is already in place and can help encourage or “lift up” other habits. In my case, I started with exercise as the first habit on my habit tracker. Before tracking, I was already exercising >90% of the days. Every time I would go to check off this habit, I would see the other habits that needed to get done. In addition, exercise encouraged some of my other habits because those habits are linked. This is true with exercise and my other habit of drinking two liters of water per day. Being hydrated makes exercise a lot easier so these two are linked.
Start with a priority habit: Not every habit has to be related to your ultimate life goal or a keystone habit. Some habits are simply a priority, at least in the short term. I, for example, wanted to whiten my teeth for an upcoming trip. Whitening my teeth is not part of my life goals and it is not a habit that lifts all habits. It is a somewhat vain habit that I want to complete over the next two weeks so I can have a shining smile. It is a priority habit because of time.
Habit Stack to knock out multiple habits at once: Pairing some habits like “exercise and water’ or “meditation and teeth whitening” can knock out two birds with one stone.
Create a habit master list: Limiting yourself to an absolute maximum of five habits to track can ensure better long-term success, but I do enjoy keeping a habit master list. I use the Habit Tracker App to keep track of my five main habits, but I also like to keep a master list of my ideal day. This includes all the habits I would perform during an ideal day. I keep this list in my good old-fashioned Notes App. I find this helpful for when I have downtime. If I find myself turning to social media or some low form of entertainment, I turn to the master list of habits I have saved in notes for ideas on what I should be doing instead.
Show Notes:
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Atoms the habit tracking app by James Clear
Community Time
Check out our Charleston Lady Podcaster friends!
Harris of
podcast: On her podcast, Harris talks about self-optimization and self-development. Harris was on our podcast episode 157, check it out here!
Sage and Kate of the SoroPod podcast: The Social Room podcast is an awesome podcast where hosts Sage and Kate interview different entrepreneurs in the Charleston Area.
Thanks to everyone who signed up for or shared Michelle and Tobi’s Sabbatical Course!
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