I briefly mentioned in my post about our To-Do Matrix that you can make it even more rewarding to complete your daily “Next Actions” column by making it a habit to complete it every day. In this way, you are creating momentum — a streak, if you will — by developing and reinforcing the habit of reaching your daily goals, and your long-term goals by extension.
Creating Your Habit Tracker
Good habits compound into amazing gains over time; hence, you want to start outlining what your priorities are and how you want to put them into action day-to-day.
- Start with understanding your goals for the year, and what you want to prioritize (and deprioritize). Try using our Pre & Procrastination Planner as a prompt to start outlining your priorities.
- From your list of top priorities, identify 3 – 10 habits that you want to try to establish, making sure that they are specific and can work with your current lifestyle. In our case, for example, you can create a habit for “Completing my daily Next Actions on my To-Do Matrix.”
- Put all the habits you want to track into a table, for example:
- Check these off every day, and keep a close eye on how closely you’ve been adhering to each of your habits.
Good habits compound into amazing gains over time; hence, you want to start outlining what your priorities are and how you want to put them into action day-to-day.
To-Do Matrix + Habit Tracker
Once you’ve set up your very own To-Do Matrix and Habit Journal,
- Start by ensuring that you put only what you’re sure you’ll complete in a day in your “Next Actions” column in your To-Do Matrix.
- Work through your items for the day and check them off steadily on your To-Do Matrix; bonus points if you get them done within your scheduled work time (see this post on how to manage your day with a calendar)!
- At the end of each day, before you put your phone away before bed, check off your habit tracker — and see how your progress has been in terms of completing your daily tasks!
