Tracking Stars

I have a motivational system that I think of as tracking stars. Each day, I have the opportunity to do a certain number of things that I know are good for me. This includes eating small portions, exercising, doing fun project work, writing blog posts, and more.

I give myself a star in each category that I complete each day.

It works great as a reminder to do the things I enjoy that I know are good for me. Today, I realized that it doesn’t work quite so well to motivate me to do the things I do NOT enjoy that are still good for me.

Strength training is a category that I know is good for me. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a way to make it enjoyable. So, even though I track it daily, I am not making much progress in this category.

Here’s another way to say it: Tracking stars works great as a reminder to do habitual activities; it’s not so great in developing new habits.

There are obvious solutions: I could get a coach to help me with strength training. I could get an accountability partner to help me forge this new habit. But these solutions take effort.

And at the end of a long day, expending the effort to develop a new habit isn’t a top priority for me. Again, there’s an obvious solution. I could start my day by putting in the effort to develop this new habit.

Ah, but I have so many competing priorities!

So maybe I need another system to augment my habit of Tracking Stars…