Using Stickers for Self-Care Tracking
Over the past year I’ve become more interested in giving myself the best chance of success by looking after myself more.
I started journalling around mid 2019 and I have really enjoyed the clarity it can bring to my daily life. I’d also been enjoying reading a lot every day since the beginning of the pandemic. So, with lockdown still continuing, I decided it was a good time to work on some more self-care and mindfulness practice.
I had been thinking about trying meditation for a few years, but still hadn’t got round to it. For me, January 2021, mid lockdown v3 felt like a good time for a new daily goal which required me to have some discipline to try it for as many days in a row as possible.
I decided to meditate for 10 minutes after my lunch. I got the Calm app and started with the ‘How to Meditate’ program which is 30 days long.
By mid February I’d made it to day 16 on the ‘How to Meditate’ program. Not an astounding success but some progress at least.
I decided that if I was going to take it to the next level I needed to get a sticker chart involved. I love stickers, they motivate me. I am a child still.
I had been hoarding the back of a broken picture frame, it turned out to be the perfect test board for what I called my ‘Good Day Tracker’.
I decided that I’d include some other habits that I wanted to continue or to start. In the back of my mind I knew that it would be a good idea to work on some good habits and attempt to ingrain them into my daily life before the world opened up again and I got distracted.
So I settled on a list of things to keep track of that were important to me for my self-care routine. The list is blogging, reading, meditation, 6000 steps, journalling, exercise, listening to a podcast, having a catch-up call and yoga.
I was interested to focus initially on reading, meditation, doing at least 6000 steps and journalling daily. And see how the others would fit in. I wanted to figure out which combination made the most impact on my daily happiness levels, and if I had to do a certain number of the things I enjoy to have a good day.
As my meditation practice became more consistent, and I explored more courses on the Calm app, like patience, I felt the other parts of my life becoming more settled and calmer. I was glad that I persevered. It was enough reward to keep going!
I also found I was happier when I did more of the habits I had put on the list. But that it was also okay if I didn’t do them for a day or two. The most important thing was to get back to doing them as soon as possible. To get back into the habit.
But, I found that I still needed a lot of discipline to make sure I completed the habits, I wasn’t able to hit every day for anything. This left me wondering what tips and tricks I could use.
At the same time I had come across James Clear on Instagram, author of Atomic Habits. I signed up for his newsletter — which I highly recommend. It gives you lots of actionable tips and tricks for habit forming and breaking. I also read his book Atomic Habits, which was super interesting and gave me lots of ideas such as habit stacking and setting a specific time for a habit to try out for April onwards.
So, I’ve got my next ‘Good Day Tracker’ set up. This time it also includes a no social media habit, which I am trying to do in the weekdays. Let’s see if I can do better this time!
Let me know if you have any tips and tricks for habits, and ones I should try out!
