I have been trying to build healthy habits over the past year and it can be difficult. Remembering to do something or find the motivation to just get up and get it done. I was struggling and not getting anywhere, feeling demoralised by my lack of progress and or motivation.
I started looking on the internet at blogs and YouTube `videos for how others had begun to build out habits. I found that a lot of people were using their Tech to help build out their habits, so I thought I would give it a go myself. There are a few ways that you can use tech to build your habits
1 Habit Tracker Apps
There are a number of habit tracker apps out there that are really good, and here is why. Within these apps you can create tasks/activities and allocate whether these are daily tasks e.g. walk 10,000 steps a day or tasks that you would want to do some days of the week e.g. exercise 4 times a week.
You will get reminders from the app’s to prompt you to complete that task. It somehow hold you accoountable to achieveing your tasks, it’s like a digital accountablility partner. You will then start to create streaks which increases your motavation to keep going because you dont want to break that streak. You competitive nature comes out even if its just against yourself.
Another great thing about these apps is Widgets. You will be able to add a Widget to your home screen so you can see your progress for the day and also with some apps how long your streak is. This is great because we always have phones with us and seeing these Widgets reminds and motavates us.
A couple of Apps that I have tried out to date are:
Done
This is a really nice app. It has a really simple UI where you can choose pre populated (common) goals/activites or you can add customer ones. It also connects to Apple Health so if you are trying to stick to a number of steps or exercise sessions it will pick it up fom there. You will also recieve reminders from the app if you have not completed your tasks.
There is a free version of Done but this will only allow you to track 3 habits. You will have to upgrade to the paid version to be able to add unlimited habits which is £51 annually.
Streak
This app is faiirly similar in that you add a task and it show your streak. The UI is very differnt and I think that I prefer how Done looks. I do like how it will send you notification to complete yor task or you streak will end and you start from stratch again.
Like Done the app integrates with Apple Health so it will automaically updated if you have closed your activity rings or done a workout. There is no free version of the app but it is just a one off payment of £4.99.
There are several other apps out there but these are the two that I have tried but its definatley worth having a look and seeing which one suits your wants and needs.
2 Reminders
Most of our smart phones have a reminders/to do list on them and these can be used as another way for us track habits, You can use a reminder or calendar event for that matter to schdule your workouts and remind you on those days. You can then mark them as complere as and when you have done that task/activity.This is good if you don’t want to spend money on an app.
3 Notion
Notion is one of my favourite Apps and its what I use to plan & track my content but there is somuch more that you can use it for. Yep you guessed it you can create a database to build your own custom habit tracker.
The great thing about building your habit tracker in Notion is that you can build it to exactly how you want it and you can tweak it as you go. Also if you are not to sure where to start in building a habit tracker there are templates that you can download and use as is or that you can tweak.
Final Thoughts
Building new habits is not easy so to a have tool at your fingertips to support your goal is highly benefical in my opinion. They cannot only help your build good habits but also break the bad ones and help to keep you consistant along the way.
So if like me you find it hard to build and stick to new habits on your own then its certainly worth trying out one of the above. I personally have gone with using a Habit Tracking App as I am lazy and cant be bothered to create my own. I like how easy they are to use and as mentioned having the widgets on my phone really helps.