Habit Tracker Ideas: 60 Habits Worth Tracking

A habit tracker is only as good as what you put in it. "Be healthier" can't be ticked off. "Walk for 10 minutes after lunch" can. So this isn't just a list of habit names: each of the 60 habit tracker ideas below comes with a small, clear version of "done" that you can check off in two seconds.

Don't track all 60. Pick one, maybe two. There's a short guide to choosing at the end, and a free 30-day habit tracker template you can print for the one you pick.

What makes a habit trackable

A good habit to track passes three tests:

1. Yes or no. At the end of the day you can say whether it happened, with no "sort of".
2. Small enough for a bad day. If it needs an hour and good energy, it won't survive a rough week. Track the minimum. Do more when you can.
3. Tied to a time or a trigger. "After breakfast" or "when I close the laptop" beats "sometime today".

Every idea below is written as the bad-day minimum, so adjust the numbers to fit you.

Health and movement

Sleep and energy

Mind and mood

Learning and creative work

Work and focus

Number 41 is the eat the frog method turned into a daily habit. For number 50, the weekly review page gives you the questions.

Money, home and relationships

How to pick one

A long list is tempting. Tracking ten habits at once is the fastest way to track none by week two.

• Start with one. Add a second only after the first has run for two or three weeks without much effort.
• Pick the one that makes others easier. A fixed bedtime makes morning habits possible. A daily plan makes the deep work block possible.
• Pick something you can do today. If it needs equipment, a membership or a free weekend, it's a project, not a habit.
• Write it as the minimum. "Read 5 pages", not "read more". On good days you'll do extra. The tracker only asks about the minimum.
• Decide when. Attach it to something you already do: after coffee, after the school run, when you close the laptop.

How long to track it

Thirty days is a good first run: long enough to see a pattern, short enough to commit to. It probably isn't long enough for the habit to feel automatic. In a 2009 study at University College London, the median was 66 days, and missing one day made little difference. So when you miss a day, tick nothing, and carry on the next day. How to build a daily streak covers what to do when a streak breaks.

At day 30, look at the grid. If you ticked most days, keep going or raise the minimum slightly. If you ticked fewer than half, the habit was too big or had no fixed time. Shrink it and run another 30 days.

Track it on paper or in your browser

The free 30-day habit tracker template takes one habit and a start date and gives you a 30-box grid. You can print it and tick it off on paper, or download it as a Markdown checklist. The page doesn't save anything, so print or download before you close the tab.

You can also download a GoalTracker file from the same page. Import it into GoalTracker with the upload icon in the header, and the habit becomes a goal with 30 subgoals, "Day 1" to "Day 30", each with its date. Ticking a day's subgoal counts towards your daily streak. GoalTracker is free, needs no account, and keeps your goals in your browser. It has no reminders, so tie the habit to a time of day you won't miss.

A habit works best when it serves something bigger. If your habit is the daily step towards a larger aim, like 200 words a day towards a book, see goals vs systems for how the two fit together. If you'd rather aim at something with an end date, here are 36 monthly goals examples.