Summary of How to Reach Your Goals by Tracking Your Habits:
Forming healthy habits is necessary for maintaining long-term health goals. However, less than 7% of adults maintain the top five healthy habits, according to the CDC. Consistency is the key to successful habit formation, and tracking progress is necessary for building healthy habits. Streaks can be a powerful tool for maintaining consistency and building healthy habits while also providing motivation and accountability. However, perfection is never the goal, and taking breaks from a habit may actually be beneficial. Health and habits require consistency, not perfection.
*****
How Tracking Habits Can Help You Achieve Long-Term Health Goals
Consistency is key when it comes to forming healthy habits. But why is consistency so hard to achieve? Research shows that only 7% of adults maintain the top five healthy habits for staying healthy and preventing chronic diseases. The key to turning healthy actions into habits is through motivation and accountability. One way to achieve these two things is by tracking your habits.
Why Forming Habits Is Essential for Achieving Goals
Habits are essential for achieving long-term health goals because they make healthy actions repeatable and sustainable. Habits slowly turn actions into automatic behaviors that don’t require as much willpower to perform. For example, a neighbor who runs every morning doesn’t struggle with willpower because running is a habit and a part of their morning routine.
Consistency Is Essential to Forming Habits
While forming habits is critical, consistency is the key to habit formation. To maintain consistency, you need a degree of rigidity. You must be consistent in your actions to turn them into habits. For example, if your goal is to prioritize movement before beginning your day’s activities, you might decide to build a habit where you complete 25 bodyweight squats before having your morning cup of coffee each day. This will take a bit of time to get used to, but groups like Zero can help offer reminders and incentivize you to stay consistent.
Tracking Your Progress Is Critical for Building Healthy Habits
Tracking your progress helps to create accountability and self-awareness. It motivates you to keep going and achieve your goals. Habits must be tracked to maintain a degree of consistency. For instance, Zero is created to handle this by providing a platform for tracking fasts, mood, activity, and sleep.
Streaks Can Be a Powerful Tool for Building Healthy Habits
Streaks are the number of consecutive days that you’ve performed a specific habit. This is a powerful and effective tool for building healthy habits. The longer the streak, the more consistent you’ve been, and the more ingrained your habit will become. Health and habits demand consistency, not perfection.
In conclusion, forming healthy habits is the key to achieving long-term health goals. Habits are essential because they make healthy actions sustainable and repeatable. Consistency is the key to habit formation, and tracking your progress and using streaks as a tool can make forming healthy habits fun and achievable. Remember that health and habits demand consistency, not perfection. So keep at it and keep tracking!