The Importance of Tracking Progress

Tracking your progress can feel like a time consuming task that most of us, let’s face it, forget to stay on top of - but there are a lot of benefits to keeping tabs on your goals, whether that be making sure you’re hitting a certain step count for the day, or how many reps you did in the gym.

Tracking progress can not only be used as an incentive to keep you on track with your goals, but it’s helpful to identify how far you’ve come and see where you can push yourself harder. 

The Little Gym Book journals (how could we resist!) are a great way to track progress as they can help you set your goals and improve over time. The journal eliminates comparison, keeping your own journey, your own. 

The benefits of tracking progress

Measurement - measuring your activity and tracking your goals helps you remain accountable and keep pushing forwards to see those results. If you track how many litres of water you drink a day, you’re likely to drink more - the same goes for wanting to see yourself progress. 

Baseline - once you have figured out your baseline, tracking your progress can help you see where you have improved and also helps to set realistic goals in comparison. 

Progress - you have your baseline and you’re tracking your activity. Seeing your progress written down along the way can remind you of where you started and where you want to get too. 

Improving - tracking progress can also help you identify where something might not be working/any obstacles and how you can change up your routine to get back on track.

Forming a tracking habit 

With the best of intentions, we start tracking our progress and feel the initial rush of motivation but continuing with this new habit can become more difficult. 

On average, it can take around two months to form a habit but there are some simple tips to make this feel a little easier!   

1. Tie in your new habits with existing ones so that it’s easier to remember. For example, align tracking your progress with your morning routine, e.g whilst drinking your coffee. 
2. Start small so it doesn't feel like such a large task. For example, leave your Little Gym Book Journal with your gym clothes for the following day. 
3. Do it every day - it’s important to make sure you make time for it every day, it only takes two minutes and it will help it become a standard part of your routine. 
4. Make it easy - research suggests that we are likely to form a new habit if it’s easy to integrate and we remove any obstacles in the way. 
5. Reward yourself - tracking your progress can sometimes feel like you aren’t getting any closer to your goals. Reward yourself by regularly looking back at how far you’ve come. 

Happy tracking!