How to Track Your Habits: The +/x/0 System and the Three-Week Sprint
A simple marking system and 21-day cycles can transform how you build habits—giving you clear data on what's working and honest insight into what's holding you back.
Why track your progress
There's one crucial element that applies to self-improvement, building habits, and learning alike — it's tracking your progress.
It helps you fight impostor syndrome, self-doubt, and other unpleasant states that make you question yourself and your abilities.
If you're not tracking your progress over time, you can't see what your efforts are actually giving you. That's why it's important not just to "do stuff," but to notice the changes, analyze them, and make adjustments when needed.
How to track habits
First, if you've started using the Habitica app, you'll find plenty of analytics about your habits there.
Second, if you prefer pen and paper, here's how I recommend tracking your process and progress.
The three-week sprint
Use a three-week system (sometimes called a sprint). Based on books and research on habits, it takes roughly 21 days on average to build a new habit or replace an old one.
The +/x/0 marking system
Use a simple scale:
