Habit Tracker Check-In – June 2016

For goal #2 of my 2016 goals, I wanted to work on some basic good habits that would help keep me healthy and on track…  Or help me improve myself  (you know, a “better me” as my blog name would indicate).

Last check-in (in March), I had 12 habits that I was working on for March… Let’s just say that they didn’t really go as well as I had hoped…

And since I started the month of April while I was on my honeymoon, I didn’t even make a habit tracker for April.  But I did start my new bullet journal with a habit tracker for May, so let’s go over how that went…

For May I again had 12 habits that I was working on, but they were slightly different from the ones in March.  Most are pretty self explanatory, but I’ll go over them anyway…

1. Get up at 5:30 AM (11/31 total or 11/21 applicable)
   Mostly only slightly successful because I went away for work, and when we are away our days start much earlier… And when I was away we work every day so the success is slightly skewed by 2 non-applicable days that I was working at site, so I did get up at 5:30 AM.
2. Morning Stretching (4/31)
   The idea was that I would do some easy stretching in the morning, even if I didn’t go for a run or do a workout… but that really didn’t happen…
3. Exercise/Fitness (15/31)
   I was pretty consisten, except when I went away for work… Can you tell when that was?  Ha ha!
4. Ride Bike to Work (7/21)
   I can’t really ride my bike to work when I am away, so I can give myself a bit of a pass on that.
5. @ Work by 9 AM (17/21 or 20/21 or 20/24)
   I am happy with the result, but the exact result depends on how you look at it… I worked over the long weekend, so those 3 days were not a part of the original 21 work days for May… but do I count them as a part of the 21 to make my percentage look better?  Or do I add them to the applicable total?
6. Drink Water (19/31)
   I notice that I have the most trouble keeping up with this on the weekends.  Probably because I’m running around doing things, not sitting at a desk…
7. Reading (3/31)
   Epic Fail!  I really want to spend more time reading actual books, and less time watching TV or playing on my iPad… But it’s just not happening as much as I would like…
8. No Alcohol (8/31)
   This count makes me look like an alcoholic, but it’s not like I get drunk every night, I just have a glass of wine with dinner, or a cider on the back deck after work…
9. Clean Sink / Dishes Done (10/22)
   When I was away for work I didn’t have a sink to keep clean… So I was off the hook then… Weekends are again a struggle… But progress has been made.
10. Lunches Made (11/16)
    Not perfect, but I am happy with the food planning we did (when I was home) that allowed us to pack lunches and not buy as much convenience food or eat out at lunch time.
11. BuJo Review (8/31)
    If I want to be really productive, and make use of my bullet journal, I need to remember to review it daily… This count seems a bit low because I probably checked my bullet journal in the mornings sometimes, but then didn’t look at it again all day, which means I just forgot about all the tasks for the day.  I want to review my journal every night so that I can migrate tasks and quickly finish anything that can be done quickly at the end of the day.
12. In Bed by 10:30 PM (13/31)
    Maybe I shouldn’t really count weekends in this because that’s typically when I think it is okay to stay up a bit later… Anyway, if I don’t, I would still be at 13/21 so… not quite there yet.

So, with that somewhat successful month over with, I set up my June habit tracker with a couple less things to keep track of, and thus a couple less things for me to concentrate on.

Let’s quickly go over the 10 habits for June:

1. Get up at 5:30 AM – I haven’t changed this one up at all.  I still want to get up at 5:30 AM, I just don’t seem to be able to do it very well… I am close quite often though… Like I’ll get up at 5:45 AM after I hit snooze a couple times on my alarm, but while that is an improvement from my old sleep-in days, I don’t want to falsely give myself credit for it.
2. Exercise/Fitness – again, one that has been around since the beginning.
3. Ride Bike to Work – I consider this exercise, but it’s also a sign of me being greener and also saving money on gas.  Basically, it’s WIN! WIN! WIN!
4. @ Work by 9 AM – this was getting to be more and more of a consistent habit and I loved it.  I feel better and more professional when I get to work at a consistent time.  I’m still later than most people (8 AM is the standard arrival time), but I stay later and I really like my slow mornings.  Anyway, I’m on a bit of a bad streak right now… 9:15 might be close, but it isn’t 9.
5. Drink Water – While I am getting better at this, I am still keeping this on here because it is an easy thing to track, and I’m sure that I would let it slide if I didn’t have it in my bullet journal.
6. No Alcohol – Always something I’m interested in tracking… though it doesn’t seem to stop me from having a drink almost every night… Summer BBQ and patio weather sure isn’t helping my cause… I may change this goal to limiting the number per week like I did in 2015.  It’s not like I drink a lot every day, but one glass of wine with dinner and I can’t check this box off as completed… Anyway, we will see how it goes.
7. Clean Sink / Dishes Done – This is a big thing for me… If I do the dishes at night, then I don’t have to do them in the morning… which means that my morning routine doesn’t take as long, so I can fit in my exercise and get to work before 9 AM…  And if I don’t do them at night, but then skip it in the morning to get to work on time, then I have to do it before making dinner again… which leads to buying dinner instead of making it because I’m lazy… It’s all connected, but this seems to be a linchpin.  And one of my biggest struggles…
8. Lunches Made – more often than not, if the dishes get done, then the lunches get made… like I said, it’s connected.  But if I put together the food for lunches the night before, it really helps both me and my husband get out of the house on time in the morning.
9. BuJo Review – as I mentioned earlier, if I want to make use of my bullet journal (BuJo for short) and have it actually help me be productive, I need to review it daily.  Preferably twice daily (first thing in the morning and right before bed).
10. In Bed @ 10:30 PM – I started with this being in bed, lights out at 10:30 PM, but I’m now leaning towards just in bed… then I can review my BuJo or do some reading before turning out the light.  Let’s see if that improves my success rate.

If I can master those 10 habits this month, I think I’ll be pretty successful at reaching other goals and keeping up with my other projects.

Do you do something similar to track your habits?  Do you have any similar goals for the month of June?

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