What to Track in a Habit Tracker: 75 Ideas for Every Area of Life

The best habits to track are a few small, specific behaviors you can do on most days, like "read 10 pages" or "walk 20 minutes after lunch", not vague goals or outcomes like "lose weight". Start with 3 to 5 habits from the areas you care about most.

You've opened a fresh tracker before and stared at the empty rows. Below: 75 habit tracker ideas across 10 areas of life, each with the way to measure it (yes/no, count, minutes or avoid), how to write a habit you can actually check off, and five starter packs for common goals.

What makes a good habit to track?

A good habit to track is a specific action you control, small enough to do on a bad day, on a schedule you can check. If you can't answer "did I do it today?" with a clear yes or no, it isn't trackable yet.

Run every idea through four filters:

• Specific. It says what and when: "walk 20 minutes after lunch", not "move more".
• In your control. A behavior, not an outcome: you can't decide to lose a pound today, but you can skip the late snack.
• Small enough for a bad day. It has a minimum version you can still do when you're tired, sick or traveling.
• On a fixed schedule. Daily, or a set number of times a week, so an empty box means something.

Write the bad-day version next to the habit ("Read 10 pages; on bad days: 1 page"). The minimum still earns the check, so a rough week doesn't end the tracker. It's the same idea as making a behavior easy in the Fogg Behavior Model.

The check mark is also a small, instant reward, the last step of the habit loop and the fourth law (make it satisfying) in our Atomic Habits cheat sheet.

4 ways to track a habit (yes/no, count, minutes, avoid)

Every habit fits one of four measures. Pick the simplest one that still tells you something.

Yes/no is the default. It's the fastest to check and the hardest to fudge.

Count fits habits with a natural unit: glasses, pages, steps. Check the box when you hit the target, or write the number in it to watch the trend.

Minutes suits meditation, reading, practice or a workout. It shows growth a check mark can't: 5 minutes in week one and 12 in week six.

Avoid turns a bad habit into a box you can tick. You mark each day you stayed clear of it: no smoking, no phone in bed. If you're cutting down rather than quitting, switch to a count and watch the number fall: drinks, cigarettes or snooze presses. Quitting works better with something in the gap, so see our 50 bad habits and what to replace each one with.

Habit categories: the 10 areas to choose from

We sort habits into 10 areas of life, from your body and sleep to money and screens. Our suggestion: pick the 2 or 3 areas that matter most right now, not all 10. A tracker that tries to fix everything at once rarely survives a busy week.

Jump to an area from the table. The last column is our suggestion for where each one fits among the six areas Greatr uses (Physical, Social, Discipline, Mental, Intellect and Wealth).

75 habit tracker ideas for every area of life

Here are all 75 habit tracker ideas, each with its measure in parentheses and, where it helps, a starting target. Numbers like 8,000 steps or 8 glasses are example goals, not medical advice. For most ideas, the bad-day version is the target cut down to one: 1 page, 1 minute, 1 glass, 1 push-up.

Still looking for habit ideas, not just what to track? Start with our 100+ good habits examples, organized by life area.

Healthy habits to track: body and movement

The CDC recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity a week, plus muscle-strengthening activity on 2 or more days.

For steps, a 2022 meta-analysis of 15 studies with 47,471 adults led by Amanda Paluch linked more daily steps to a lower risk of death, leveling off around 8,000 to 10,000 a day for adults under 60 and 6,000 to 8,000 for adults 60 and older. The studies were observational: a link, not a promise.

1. Walk 8,000 steps (count). Our steps to miles converter shows how far that is for your height.
2. Do a 20-minute workout (minutes).
3. Stretch for 5 minutes (minutes). While the coffee brews.
4. Do yoga (minutes). Start with 10.
5. Take a cold shower (yes/no). The last 30 seconds cold is enough to count.
6. Take the stairs (yes/no).
7. Walk after lunch (minutes). 10 to 20 minutes.
8. Strength train (yes/no, twice a week). Squats, push-ups and a plank count.
9. Get 150 active minutes a week (minutes).
10. Stand up once an hour at work (count). Six times a workday is a good start.

Nutrition and hydration habits to track

Track what you add before what you cut. In survey data published by the CDC in 2017, only 12 percent of US adults ate the recommended amount of fruit and 9 percent the recommended amount of vegetables.

11. Drink 8 glasses of water (count). The National Academies set adequate total water intake at about 2.7 liters a day for women and 3.7 for men, from all drinks and food, so 8 glasses is a target, not a rule. Our water intake calculator gives a goal for your weight, exercise and climate; a 30-day water challenge is an easy way to try it.
12. Eat a vegetable with lunch and dinner (count, 2 a day).
13. Eat a piece of fruit (count). One a day to start.
14. No sugary drinks (avoid).
15. Cook dinner at home (yes/no). Eggs on toast counts.
16. Eat a breakfast with protein (yes/no). An egg or a cup of Greek yogurt.
17. No snacks after 8 PM (avoid). Brush your teeth after dinner.
18. Pack tomorrow's lunch (yes/no).

Sleep habits to track

The CDC says adults aged 18 to 60 need 7 or more hours of sleep a night. Track the habits that protect it.

19. In bed by 10:30 PM (yes/no). Or early enough for 7 hours of sleep before your alarm.
20. Wake up at the same time (yes/no). Weekends within an hour. Want that time earlier? See how to wake up early.
21. No screens 30 minutes before bed (avoid). In a small 2015 study by Anne-Marie Chang and colleagues, 12 adults who read on a light-emitting e-reader for about 4 hours before bed, five nights in a row, took longer to fall asleep and were less alert the next morning than when they read a printed book. The 30-minute cutoff is our example goal.
22. No caffeine after 2 PM (avoid). In a 2013 study by Christopher Drake and colleagues, 400 mg of caffeine (a large dose) taken even 6 hours before bed cut the 12 participants' measured sleep by more than an hour. The 2 PM cutoff is our example goal.
23. Hours of sleep (minutes). Note it in hours if that's easier: aim for 7 or more.
24. Phone charges outside the bedroom (yes/no).
25. Wind down before bed (minutes). 15 minutes, lights dimmed.

Mind and mental health habits to track

In a 2019 survey of 19,806 people in England by Mathew White and colleagues, those who spent at least 120 minutes a week in nature were more likely to report good health and well-being, whether the time came in one visit or several. It's a correlation from self-reports, not proof.

26. Meditate (minutes). 5 minutes, then grow it.
27. Do a breathing exercise (minutes). 2 minutes of slow breaths.
28. Journal 3 lines (yes/no). How you feel and what matters today.
29. Note one thing you're grateful for (yes/no). Before bed.
30. Spend 20 minutes in a park or other green space (minutes). Six days of that reaches 120 minutes a week.
31. Rate your mood from 1 to 5 (count). After a month, look for the pattern. If your scores stay low week after week, talk to a doctor.
32. Do a 5-minute brain dump (yes/no).
33. Spend time on a hobby with no goal (minutes). 10 minutes of sketching, guitar or baking.

Learning and growth habits to track

Learning habits stick best in a moment that already exists: the commute, the coffee, bedtime.

34. Read 10 pages (count). One page on bad days.
35. Practice a language (minutes). 10 minutes with your coffee.
36. Listen to a podcast episode or audiobook chapter (yes/no).
37. Write 200 words (count). For a story, a blog or a work project.
38. Review 10 flashcards (count). For a class, an exam or a language.
39. Practice an instrument (minutes). 15 minutes, instrument left out on its stand.
40. Do one lesson of an online course (yes/no).
41. Note one thing you learned (yes/no). One line in your notes app.

Productivity and career habits to track

The best work habits are decisions made ahead of time. To give each task its own slot, try time blocking.

42. Plan tomorrow tonight (yes/no). Write tomorrow's first task before you close the laptop.
43. One deep-work block (minutes). 50 minutes, phone in another room.
44. Write your top 3 tasks (yes/no). Before you open email.
45. Inbox zero (yes/no). Or check email at set times (count, 3 a day).
46. Do a shutdown routine (yes/no). Close the laptop at a set time.
47. Do the hardest task first (yes/no). At least its first step.
48. Do a weekly review (yes/no, weekly). 15 minutes on Friday afternoon.
49. Clear your desk (yes/no).

Money habits to track

Money habits work best as quick checks: a minute a day beats a dreaded Sunday.

50. Log every expense (yes/no). Note today's purchases before bed.
51. Have a no-spend day (avoid). One weekday, essentials only.
52. Check your budget (yes/no, weekly). Last week's total, Sunday morning.
53. Move money to savings (count). $5 a day, or one automatic transfer each payday.
54. No impulse buys (avoid). Wait 48 hours before anything nonessential.
55. Review your subscriptions (yes/no, monthly). Cancel the one you forgot.

Relationship habits to track

Nothing breaks right away when you skip these, so a box keeps them visible.

56. Text or call a friend (yes/no). One line is enough.
57. Phone-free dinner (avoid). Phones off the table.
58. Give one compliment a day (yes/no).
59. Call your family (yes/no, weekly). 10 minutes on your Sunday walk.
60. Real time with your partner or kids (minutes). 15 minutes, no screens.
61. Say a specific thank-you (count). Name the exact thing they did.
62. Make or accept one plan (yes/no, weekly).

Home and self-care habits to track

These take minutes and make the rest of the day feel in order.

63. Make your bed (yes/no). Pulling the covers up counts.
64. Do a 10-minute tidy (minutes). Set a timer and stop when it rings.
65. Do your skincare routine (yes/no).
66. Floss (yes/no). One tooth on bad days.
67. Dishes done before bed (yes/no).
68. Lay out tomorrow's clothes (yes/no).

Digital habits and bad habits to quit

Most of these are avoid habits: you check the box for what you didn't do. Our screen time calculator shows how many years your current phone time adds up to, and what a daily goal would win back.

69. Leisure screen time under 2 hours (minutes). There's no official US limit; this is an example goal.
70. No phone in the first 30 minutes (avoid). Charge it out of reach.
71. No social media after 9 PM (avoid).
72. No alcohol on weekdays (avoid).
73. No smoking or vaping (avoid). Or count cigarettes while you cut down.
74. No snooze button (avoid). Put the alarm across the room.
75. Phone pickups (count). Your phone's screen time report shows the number; try to beat yesterday.

How many habits should you track at once?

Start with 3 to 5 habits, and make at least one of them very easy. Add another only when the first ones have run steadily for a few weeks.

There's no hard research on the "right" number of habits to track. Advice of 3, 5 or 7 is a rule of thumb, ours included. What research does show is that habits take time, so a short list you keep beats a long one you drop.

In a 2010 study led by Phillippa Lally at University College London, 96 volunteers each repeated one eating, drinking or activity behavior daily. The median time to reach peak automaticity was 66 days, with estimated individual times from 18 to 254 days. Missing a single day didn't materially affect the process. Treat 66 days as a median from one study, not a deadline (more in how many days it takes to form a habit).

Our suggestion for pacing it:

1. Week 1. Track 3 habits, one of them almost too easy (make your bed, a glass of water).
2. Week 4. If all 3 happen on most days, add a fourth. If not, shrink the one you keep skipping.
3. Week 8. Add a fifth only if the first four still run. Once a habit runs on its own for a few weeks, you can stop checking it daily and give its slot to the next one; keep it in your routine if it cues the habits after it.

Signs you're tracking too many:

• You fill in the boxes after the fact, from memory.
• You always skip the same hard one.
• Checking off the list feels like homework.

Habit tracker starter packs by goal

Don't want to choose from 75? Take a pack: 3 to 5 habits from the list, in the order you'd do them, so the end of one habit becomes the cue for the next. That's habit stacking: "After I [current habit], I will [new habit]."

Want a deeper version of the focus pack? Monk mode builds a whole month around deep work.

The morning and evening halves of each pack are routines, and that's what Greatr is built for: you stack small habits into a morning routine, an evening routine or both, tap Play and do them one at a time, in the same order every day.

Paper habit tracker or app? Layout ideas for both

Either works: pick the one you'll see every day. A tracker in a drawer tracks nothing.

Paper is tangible, and filling in a box by hand feels good. Three layouts cover most bullet journals:

• Classic grid. Habits as rows, days of the month as columns. The easiest to read.
• Circle tracker. A circle cut into a slice per day, with a ring per habit. Pretty, and fine for 3 to 5 habits.
• Year in pixels. 365 small squares, one per day, colored by mood or by whether you did the habit.

The downside: paper can't count your streaks for you, and months are hard to compare. If you'd rather buy a ready-made one, see habit tracker journals compared.

An app does the counting for you. Streaks matter more than they look: across seven studies, Jackie Silverman and Alixandra Barasch found that people who saw an unbroken streak were more likely to keep going than people who saw a broken one, especially when they blamed themselves for the break. One more reason to keep a bad-day version.

In Greatr, Otto keeps count of every day you show up, and you earn medals like the 30 Day Streak and 66 Habit Days. Every habit earns XP that grows one of your six areas in My Areas, and a leaderboard lets you race friends on XP.

Prefer the browser? Our habit tracker is a monthly, weekly and yearly tracker that gives each habit a card with streaks and a year heatmap, and prints monthly and weekly sheets on US Letter or A4. It's saved in the page link, and nothing is stored on a server.

The full habit tracker list (printable)

Here's the whole habit tracker list on one screen. Print this page or copy it into a notebook, circle your 3 to 5, then fill in the monthly grid for the ones you picked.

Your next step, tonight: pick 3 ideas from this list, write each with its bad-day version, and put them in the order you'll do them tomorrow morning or evening.