Habit Tracker

Have you often thought you are accomplishing a lot? Your day seems so busy and it feels like you get a lot done throughout the day, then you sit down to write out exactly what you accomplished, and realize, it is not very impressive. I recently started using a habit tracker. I decided to use this tool to track the important things in my life. I have used task lists for years, to write down and check off the tasks I need to do for the day or the week. However, I have never used a tracker to see how much I am completing the tasks most important to me.

Needless to say, my eyes have been opened to how easy it is, to let the important things in your life get away from you. See, it is not about the 80% of tasks you do in a day, its about the 20% of tasks that move you forward and help progress you. I am starting to realize, I was spending a lot of time in the 80% and not prioritizing my 20%.

Now I realize the amount of time not being spent on my 20%, I need to find a way to schedule out my days, to get my important habits into my day. What I have noticed, is if I miss something on my schedule, I have a very hard time finding the time to fit it back in. For example, I have my workout sessions dedicated to 5am Mon, Wed, Fri, and 430am Tues, Thurs. Beyond those times, I have to get in 1 more mma session and 2 runs. If I miss one morning of working out, I am going to struggle finding time to add those in later, since I pack my schedule with my 80%. Now this is just my exercise portion, which I find to be very important to me, but does not necessarily progress me in business. It has been a part of my life for 12 years and it is something I am dedicated to doing for the rest of my time. I just need to follow my schedule better to assure I am meeting the standards I set for myself.

Some of the things on my habit tracker that will help progress me in my professional life is sending letters and cold calling for real estate. I have been keeping up with my letter sending but I have not set a standard for cold calling, so I have not been doing it. This is very telling, between having a standard and not having a standard. I have an exact standard for letters, I have to send on average 10 letters a day. So, I make sure I send an average of 10 letters a day. I do not have a cold calling standard, so I have yet to do it. This is an easy one to solve, I need to set a standard for cold calling and start implementing it.

Next, I have my blogs and podcasts. I have a standard for both of them, which is one blog a week released on Thursdays and two podcasts a week, one released on Friday and one released on Monday. I have Sam to hold me accountable, so I make sure to accomplish these every week. It is very nice doing the podcasts with Sam because she makes sure we get them done every week, then she edits them, and posts them. She also follows up with me to make sure I get my blog done every week. She is very helpful in assuring I am reaching my standards.

I have some other things I track, such as walks with Mimi, dates with Sam, meditation, and gratitude tracking. These things have been going pretty well except for the meditation. I need to schedule out these things in my schedule to assure I am reaching my standards.

To recap, it is eye opening to track your habits, it is easy to think you are accomplishing things, while in reality, you may only be doing it 50-75% of the time. My plan is to set standards for all of my habits, put them into my weekly schedule, and stick to my schedule. This will allow me to accomplish the things most important to me, which will help me reach my vision.

I recommend writing out your habits, setting standards for them, and implementing a tracker.

Your life Tutor

-Shaun Tutor