Track My Success

Research in many disciplines—psychology, business, healthcare, and more—indicates that tracking yourself increases the probability of success. As business consultant Peter Drucker says, “What’s measured improves.” That’s why tracking your behavior continues through all 5 steps of Changeology.

Why does tracking (or self-monitoring, as we psychologists call it) work?  First, it keeps your attention on the goal, your eye on the ball. Recording a behavior each day makes it almost impossible to “forget.” Second, it provides useful feedback, alerting you when you veer off course, telling you to adjust.  Third, tracking progress is highly rewarding. Watching the minutes of exercise skyrocket, the number of cigarettes fall, and other goals fulfilled are very motivating.

And fourth, tracking your behavior frequently serves as a way of changing that behavior; measuring something usually improves it. Sweet!

In this self-change activity, we suggest methods to track your success with a variety of goals and resolutions. Here are our favorites (and, no, we do not receive royalties or referral fees for saying so):

General/Many Goals

Handwritten graphs, diaries, journals, or calendar notes

Daily record on your computer or cell phone

Blogging (Tumblr is an easy-to-use blogging platform with tens of millions of users)

Google Calendar is one of our favorites since it can be used as a comprehensive self-management application, including tracking your progress

Kanban2Go is a free website that allows you to make lists of tasks to complete, prioritize the tasks, and then move the tasks into “in progress” and “done” sections. The site’s design is modeled on the workflows of efficient Japanese auto companies.

Weight Loss

Calorie Counter on ShareCare

SparkPeople is a website that offers calorie counters, meal plans, and personalized fitness programs.

DailyBurn is a $10 per month website that has personalized fitness plans and a “Track Your Performance” feature.

Lost It! creates a personalized calorie budget and weight loss plan.

Exercise

Free pedometer app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

There’s also a pedometer app with a GPS available for $3

ShareCare has many online resources and experts devoted to fitness and losing weight.

GymPact tracks your gym visits and rewards or punishes you with cash.

Smoking

Livestrong My Quit Coach Lite is a free app that allows you to create a personalized plan with progress charts.

QuitNow! is a smart phone game that tracks how long the user has given up smoking, the money they’ve saved, the life expectancy increase, and then decrease in health risks.

SilkQuit Meter is a computer program that tracks how long you’ve quit smoking, the amount of money saved from not buying cigarettes, and the extra time you’ve gained from not smoking.

Budgeting Money

HomeBudget is a $5 app that tracks your expenses, income, bills, and account balances. It also allows users to sync their info with family members.

iReconcile is $3 and keeps track of your budget and financial transactions.

Expenditure is $2 and tracks your transactions and available spending money.

 

Bottom line: track your success throughout the 5 steps of Changeology and you’ll discover how this invaluable catalyst speeds you along the road to success.