This blog has been on silent mode for over a week. My family and I took a quick (and much-needed) vacation to Hong Kong and Macao last week. The top five highlights: Kam’s Roast Goose, the jellyfish and walrus exhibit at the Ocean Park, the lazy river at the JW Marriott in Macao, indulging in beautiful paper products at Kikki K. and riding the Star Ferry and tram.
Now that I’m back at work, I wanted to share my trick to help keep me on track with my goals. I don’t have a coach or boss who will keep me accountable so it’s up to me to keep myself on track.
How you start your day is how you live your day. How you live your day is how you live your life.
>Louise L. Hay, Heal Your Body A-Z
At the start of the month, I set an intention for what I want. To help me do this, I usually pull a card from my Shadowscapes tarot deck. I use this as a starting point, a sort of prompt to help guide my month. If I don’t, my default intention would be to work, work, work, work, work (cue Rihanna’s voice here).
Then I draw out a habit tracker on my planner (see photo above).
At the top of the page, I write down my priorities according to my intention. It usually includes exercise, community building, a challenge that I set for myself and a new program that I’m working on.
At the left hand of the page, I list down the dates and days of the month. Then I draw a grid around each day.
Every time I complete one of my priorities, I shade the corresponding box. It’s a super fun and fulfilling way to end the day.
But the most powerful thing about the habit tracker is the monthly wrap-up. At the end of the month, I answer two questions:
- What worked this month
- What didn’t work this month and how can I improve
These two questions help me celebrate my wins—if I do something consistently or, if I’m tracking something over a period of months, if I’ve improved over the month before. It also helps me learn what’s important and if it is, how to tweak my day or my habits so I can make reaching that priority consistent every month. It becomes a guide for my intention for the next month.
This habit tracker helped me keep my commitments to journaling, to regular exercise (although that’s still a work in progress), to new projects I want to start.
