If you want to build good habits or break bad habits, then this Notion template is for you. This template will help you track and visualize your progress – it’s hard to stop once you’ve started stringing together a few good days!
I originally tracked my habits in Excel but recently decided to switch over to Notion. I found the Excel app to be too fiddly on the phone whilst I was at the gym. The Notion mobile app is more versatile and easier to build as a one-page habit-tracking tool.
Today, I will share my steps on how to create your own habit tracker. Before we dive into it, let’s discuss why you should track your habits.
Why Use A Habit Tracker?
A habit tracker brings awareness to your habits. Whether you’re trying to build good habits or break bad habits, a tracker allows you to be more mindful of your actions. You will also be more consistent and self-accountable when you track your habits.
This may just be me, but I find a small sense of achievement when I get to tick off my habits at the end of the day. Also, when I’m down on energy or motivation, a look back at the string of positive days helps provide that little bit of extra boost to accomplish said task/habit!
What you repeatedly do (i.e. what you spend time thinking about and doing each day) ultimately forms the person you are, the things you believe, and the personality that you portray.
James Clear
Related article – Why You Should Be Tracking Monthly Metrics
Build A Habit Tracker In Notion
Before we start, think about what would form part of a useful habit tracker for yourself. I’ll guide you with a template, but each person will have their own design requirements for a habit tracker.
Some people want to see a calendar format that shows them how many days they’ve ticked off with each habit. Others might want to see a percentage of compliance with habit per month. So do a bit of brainstorming before you start with the steps below.
Step 1 – Sign Up For Notion
If you haven’t got one already, go to Notion and sign up for a free account.
Check out the Notion Foundation series if you need some additional background on how to use Notion.
Step 2 – Start A New Page
- Start a new page in Notion
- Add an Inline database – this will add a table format by default
Once created, go ahead and name your tracker (I’ve called it Habit Tracker!). Now is also a good chance to add some aesthetics to the page like a page icon and page cover.
Step 3 – Add Column Headings (Your Habits!)
From here we’ll start to populate the database with a few useful columns like the day, date, and some habits. In this example, I’ve added the following:
- Title – day of the week
- Date
- Checkbox – I’ve added four columns, exercise, water intake, meditation, and journal. Adjust this as needed for your own habits
- Select property – Happiness tracker, I’ve added a 3-star rating system so you can select one option each day. Another idea is you can use a 1-3 star system for compliance against your habits. You don’t need to be perfect, even if it’s 1 star, you’re still moving in the right direction!
Some people prefer a more visual / color-based setup. Instead of using the checkbox property, you can use the select property and make it a Yes/No or 1/0 type setup.
Really have a think about which areas of your life you’d like to improve. You can then set up the environment and design a habit that can help you improve on a daily basis.
Step 4 – Start Tracking Your Habits
You now have a simple habit tracker setup – now go and take action!
Once you have completed the habit, update your progress by clicking on an empty box of each habit.
When you visually see a string of a few good days, it’ll get harder and harder for you to break the chain. Imagine writing every day for 25 days with the goal of hitting 50 days – you’re not going to give up. Yes, some days will be a bit of a grind, but you won’t want to break that winning streak.
Habits are the compound interest of self improvement.
James Clear
Step 5 – Review Your Habits
At the bottom of the table, you can include a summary of checked boxes. Strive for that 100%!
At the end of every week, I like to complete a weekly review. This is a good opportunity to check in with your habits.
If you’re not achieving your habit goals, why not? Is there something in the environment you need to change? Do you need to tweak the metric you’re tracking? These types of questions can simplify your habits and help get your head into the game.
Improve your template by adding progress bars.
Download The Notion Habit Tracker
Like all of my Excel and Notion templates, this habit tracker template is 100% free, and I don’t require your email for it.
However, if you want to improve your Notion skills, I highly recommend joining my Excel Me newsletter by entering your email below. You’ll only be emailed from time to time when I release new tutorials and templates.
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As promised, click here to download the template.
Before You Go…
Remember this is just a template – you need to adjust this according to your goals. You can duplicate this template to use on a weekly basis or you can edit and turn it into a monthly database. The world is your oyster!
The most important part is taking action and checking off those boxes every day!
Thanks for reading and I hope you found this helpful!
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