I don’t usually do many product reviews, or do them so close together. But I’ve been using a printable and colorable tool from Sarah Renae Clark for a month, and it’s time for my Monthly Habit Tracker review.
The first of the year means setting new goals, and promises for better discipline for many of us. I’m no different.
Probably like many others, I often have difficulty following through on some of those Promises to Self. It’s all too easy to forget new promises in the crush of the daily grind.
So when I came across a way to track performance in late December, I knew I had to give it a try.
Tracking New Habits with a Monthly Habit Tracker
Sarah Renae Clark’s Monthly Habit Tracker
Sarah Renae Clark* is an illustrator, designer, and stay-at-home mom from Melbourne, Australia. She sells adult coloring books and many other coloring and drawing products from her website, including printable items. She also offers a line of free printable items, in case you’re looking for something fun to color, and fun to use.
The item that most caught my eye that first day was her Monthly Habit Tracker*. I was in the middle of planning for 2018 when I found it, and it looked like the perfect way to monitor all the new things I was hoping to accomplish.
The Monthly Habit Tracker is designed to be printed on letter-sized paper and can be printed on regular ink jet paper, or art paper. I printed my first one on card stock because I wanted something more permanent. I printed the sheet for February on Bristol vellum, but also plan to use other art papers as the year progresses.
But now I’m getting ahead of myself.
Tracking My Habits Through January
The Monthly Habit Tracker is set up so you can list habits or goals you want to track along the left side. Each line of the list is followed by a row of 31 boxes, one for each day.
I listed the things I wanted to do every day or week, then shaded a box for each accomplished item each day.
As you can see below, I wasn’t quite as disciplined as I’d hoped to be (though I do have at least one legitimate reason for idleness in the middle of the month.) Just look at all those white squares!
But you can also see the things I did faithfully, as well as where I need to be more disciplined. So the habit tracker for each completed month provides not only a record of where you’ve been, but can be used for guidance in the next month.
Tips For Making the Most of the Monthly Habit Tracker
Make sure to record the month in the top box on the left side. I didn’t even notice that until I started setting up February’s sheet. If you plan to keep your finished habit tracker as I do, it’s vital to know which month the habit tracker is for! It might also be a good idea to note the year.
In January, I listed goals and habits in colored pencil. That worked all right, but was hard to read, even in real life. So if you use colored pencils, make sure to use medium pressure or heavier so the list is legible! I used a Sharper Ultra-Fine point pen to make February’s list and it’s much easier to read.
Keep the habit tracker at or near your work desk or in an area where you’re likely to see it every day. There were a couple of times in January when I totally forgot to track my habits, so I changed where I keep my habit tracker for this month.
Look for a nice notebook or binder with page protectors to keep your habit tracker. That’s the next thing on my list and something I plan to do as soon as possible.
Start with light colors when coloring the background. Otherwise, you will get darker colors mixed in with those lovely light colors. This applies to fine art and other colored pencil work, too. It’s nearly impossible to remove dark marks embedded into a layer of light color.
What Do I Think of the Monthly Habit Tracker?
In short, I love it!
No, I didn’t keep up my habits as much as I would have liked. Monthly habit tracker or no, it still takes discipline to see things through.
But I can see at a glance how well I did (or didn’t do.)
And it was fun and pretty (and we all know how important that is, right?)
Will I be doing it again in February? I already have my page printed and set up. I’ve even started coloring!
Want your own Monthly Habit Tracker? Click here to see it on Sarah’s website*.
*Affiliate Link.
