A Streak of Success:

How Habit-Tracking Rewired My Life

Hello. My name is Robyn, and I am a habit tracker. I have been a habit tracker for 47 years.

You may laugh, but I actually started habit-tracking at WeightWatchers when I was pregnant with my first child. I was so excited when a little tracking booklet was placed into my hand. I was in love with the idea of weighing and documenting every morsel I ate in the little daily sections to proudly present at the next meeting with a smirk of accomplishment.

However, it didn’t last long. I fell off the wagon. Over the years, every time a new WW system came in, off I went to collect a new set of little books to pour over. I even got to Lifetime Member once before falling off the wagon yet again.

So how is it that at 68 years old, I have gathered numerous 2,000+ day habit streaks?

I didn’t wake up one day and decide to create some new habits.

On the back of my husband being diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation and wanting to understand more about the heart, I started measuring my HRV (Heart Rate Variability) first thing every morning. Before I knew it, I had a streak of 50 days, then 80 days, then 100. That 100th day produced the biggest dopamine squirt I’d ever had.

That mini-win came as I was reflecting on my life. You know that time when you take stock of where you’ve come from and look forward to the ever-dwindling number of days? I felt the weight of regret, the wasted time over decades that I could have made different decisions and been in a different place, even though I am very grateful for the life I have now.

I decided then and there that I would not waste any of the precious days ahead. I would not let my life slip through my fingers or create one more regret. I would make every day count.

Role models of ordinary women doing extraordinary things were a beacon. I thought, if they can do it, I can do it. I was driven not only by the idea of doing something extraordinary but also of making peace with myself and creating a life I could be proud of.

So, I created a spreadsheet to record my new habits and have diligently recorded every day’s results - nearly six years of data, averages, and graphs.

Sure, there are secondary benefits to tracking habits:

• Awareness of my health

• Consistency that had eluded me

• Accountability and heightened self-respect

But, thanks to tracking apps, I focus on the habit-tracking game. You might be able to fudge a paper tracking system, but generally, you can’t cheat a tracking app. Your interaction is dated, and once the clock strikes midnight, you either have held onto your streak or crashed and burned.

So, in my 60s, I became a gamer. I shudder to think what might have happened if I had tried gaming, the entertainment kind, way back. I would have been addicted to some seriously not-so-good habits. However, gamifying my habits is one of my most transforming adventures. I am hooked on the daily dance, the habit-tracking apps, the ping of success as I hit a daily target and release the cascade of feel-good chemicals.

Still, there’s an element of Snakes and Ladders.

Everyone has days when they think: Not today, I am too busy, I don’t feel like it, or one day missed won’t hurt. But gamers know that a squirt of dopamine is what we are after. When I finish a good workout, score a top Lumosity score or close my Apple Watch rings there it is.

In addition, it’s easy to convince yourself it’s no big deal, but when you have a streak of over 2,000+ days, it matters! You built a new identity, and you intend to keep it.

Of course, there are always obstacles or ‘Snakes’ to overcome for that dopamine hit. It wouldn’t be a game if there weren’t challenges.

Travelling across time zones requires accurate planning to complete requirements on the right day before turning your watch forward or backward. Even crossing our interstate border (1-hour Daylight Savings time difference) early one morning wiped my recorded HRV reading. Mental note: do not set your Apple watch to automatic time zone. Luckily, a techie at the company could retrieve it and restore my nearly 2,000-day streak.

I have systems to ensure I don’t miss any of my daily habits in the form of a checklist. I also try to cram habits into my morning when my willpower is strongest. Then there’s the walk on the spot at a restaurant or in the aisle of a plane to feed my Apple Watch. My family might be embarrassed, but nothing gets in the way of my game.

Some say that there are downsides to habit-tracking apps.

• Data privacy issues

• Over-reliance on apps

• Potential for overwhelm

• Inaccuracy or misinterpretation of the data

• Loss of fun when tracking becomes a must.

But for me,

• Nothing beats celebrating a micro-win with a fist punch into the air when I get a top score on a Lumosity game.

• Nothing beats the rush of ticking off a daily checklist. Done!

• Nothing beats the pride of big goals met and big streaks accomplished.

If your habits align with the right goals and values, you are moving deliberately toward the life you want to create. Therefore, habits have the power to transform. They are a vote for the person you want to be and can be proud of.

But for me, the game is habit-tracking, and every day is playtime. I am a gamer hooked on this game of life - Physical fitness, Cognitive Fitness, Emotional Fitness and even Financial Fitness games are in my mix.

Recently, I came full circle, re-engaging with WeightWatchers. There is no little booklet these days, but there is a tracking app and a revised program that is so easy compared to when I first started. While I only had about 1kg to lose, I wanted the template to manage my meals, free up planning time and ensure quality nutrition. I love to open my phone, track my morning weight, exercise, and food for the day, and be rewarded with a little squirt of the juice of life.

I periodically check my goal statistics, but the daily hit provided by the tracking app imparts sheer delight. Looking back on every day with that ‘accomplished and satisfied’ feeling is the best way to stack a positive lifestyle.

Even Mr Habits himself thinks habit tracking is worth it:

Perhaps the best way to measure your progress is with a Habit tracker

- James Clear

My favourite Substack reads this week:

Lunch, conversation and working until you die by Cindy O’Dell

You and I Are Way Too Old to Buy the Bullsh*t About Aging by Julia Hubbel

Offer Your Help, It Causes A Change by Susan G.S. Abel