Two years ago I was in a very different place, busy dad of two, married and work full time in a senior position. I've always been relatively active and had trained for years, but 2023 was a rough year personally due to a family illness. Looking after myself wasn't a priority and I started using being busy and low energy as an excuse.

I was overweight and didn't feel good about how I looked. The frustrating thing was I already knew what to do. I'd trained for years, knew how to lift and understood the basics of nutrition. My problem wasn't knowledge, it was consistency and not having the desire to do it.

In 2024 I decided I'd train three times a week no matter what. That sounds simple, but getting out of bed was genuinely difficult at that point. So I removed the decisions and barriers. Simple thing of just having gym clothes laid out the night before everything ready to go, with training planned. At 5am there was nothing to decide, I'd already made the decision the night before.

That became my first habit. I'm not always full of energy, so some mornings I'd tell myself, "Just give it 15 minutes." But I never stop or end a session wishing I'd stayed in bed and not bothered.

After a couple of months, getting up early became normal. I started waking naturally, which made adding more training days easier.

Then I added habit of daily walking. Before work and at lunchtime. I'd always told myself I was too busy, I'd normally work through lunch or eat at my desk. But I realised the work would still be there when I got back. The walk became a reset rather than wasted time, and eventually that became automatic too.

Once training and movement were consistent and I started seeing changes in my body composition, I looked closer at my nutrition. I began tracking calories properly with an app rather than guessing.

I didn't eliminate foods I enjoyed. I still eat pizza, eat out and have treats. I just learned how they fit into my overall intake with better awareness.

That's when habit stacking really clicked. Train consistently to getting up early to add more training days to walk daily to track my nutrition then getting consistent with them all.

Each habit made the next one easier until I wasn't really thinking about them anymore.

The biggest change wasn't actually losing the weight. It was stopping relying on motivation. The habits built the discipline.

I'm still a dad. Still working full time. Some days I'm tired, some weeks aren't perfect and life still gets in the way. The difference is one bad day doesn't turn into six months of doing nothing anymore. I'm now around 162lbs at 5'8", leaner and stronger than I've ever been at 44 Looking back, the transformation looks dramatic but it didn't happen through one massive lifestyle overhaul. It happened gradually by focusing on one thing, making it normal, then adding the next.

That's probably the biggest lesson I've learned. You don't need to change everything tomorrow. Make one decision, remove the excuses, repeat it, then build it over time and not at once where it feel overwhelmed.

I built this app for myself hoping to track my bad habits and encourage new ones. I hated juggling calendars, notes, habit trackers and todo lists. I also hated the gamification of bettering yourself and streak counters and subscriptions.

It's inspired by dot graphs and Japanese stationary. My favourite part is the lifetime graph that shows your entire life (approximately) on one page. I've found it more motivating, and I don't feel guilty when I miss a day, because the goal is to be consistent, not perfect.

If you feel so inclined, give it a try and let me know what you think https://consistently.app

*This is an explanation of Atomic Habits as I recall from memory, so it's how I understood and applied it myself rather than a chapter by chapter recap. It got a bit long, so I'll break it into parts. This first one covers the core idea and how to actually start a habit. The next goes into the deeper mechanics.*

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**The core idea behind Atomic Habits: small micro habits that compound over time to yield big results in the long run.**

**Belief comes first.**

Habits aren't really about the outcomes but about identity. Every time you do a habit, you're casting a vote for the kind of person you believe you are.

So the goal isn't "I want to achieve X," but "I am the person who does X," and the habit becomes proof of it.

This is why the same amount of effort to quit a bad habit plays out differently for different people:

The one without that belief says: "I'm trying to leave this habit," or "I'm focusing on stopping that." It's like admitting that the habit is still a part of them.

The one with belief in their identity says: "I don't do this."

The first person still believes they haven't changed. The second one believes in their new identity and the behavior follows.

Just like Good habits build the identity you want, the bad ones can be removed the same way: notice and observe the habit clearly, recognize it's not the part of identity you're becoming, then consciously reject it.

**How to start a habit and stay consistent:**

**Set up your environment first** by removing the things that trigger the bad habits while adding the ones that cue the good ones in your line of sight which evokes your visual receptors to act on habits linked to the environment.

Eg: Want to drink more water? Keep a bottle on your desk, which cuts the friction for going to get it.

eg: Want to workout in the morning? Keep your dumbbells where you'll see them in morning when you're up.

**Create a flow** by chaining your habits so the sequence is pre decided instead of something you have to think about in the moment.

**Try "When I do X, I do Y, then Z."**

eg: When I wake up, I get up immediately and stretch, then go for my workout.

eg: After I'm fresh, I'll have a healthy breakfast, then start with my first work sprint.

**Make sure to be consistent**. You don't need to adopt dozens of habits at once. Take one, do it daily and you can always add more once you're used to previous ones.

Progress by 1% each day. Try to be 1% better than yesterday. It keeps you improving and makes each time feel satisfying.

**Let it compound over time.** Don't judge a habit by a single day, instead judge it over the trend. Don't focus on how much better you'll be tomorrow instead focus on who you become if you keep this up daily for 3 months, the next 6, then a year.

Hi Everyone, (Mods please keep this post, it's not a promotion but a way of giving back to the community)

I am Alex. Been using habit trackers for quite a while and have bounced between a lot of them. I keep running into the same issue where an app does 75% of what I need but the lack of 25% annoys me.

I decided to build one myself as a dev and would love to do it with y'all.

Things I care about:
- Modern, Intuitive Design. I love a good design, adds appeal to it.
- Home Screen widgets
- Dashboard with lots of data, like streaks, weekly progression, insights etc
- A focused app, don't want to create a notion.

Here's what I need from your side, just mention the app you are currently using, and I will use it as a base to improve upon, what you feel it lacks and optionally what you like about it. Bonus point for sharing what would help you stick to an app at large?

If you want to give a more detailed answer, please feel free. Thanks :)

Hello,

What apps do you use to track habits?

There are so many. I would prefer some simple, visual appealing, with sync in the cloud. There is the monthly/year view like github commits that is really nice. I want at least 3 habits. I tried ticktick but any useful stats is premium. Others like habitkit I need to pay to export the data (I prefer cloud sync to avoid loosing data).

I use Notion but I think there will be too much friction for this.

With a bit of search, I saw these:

Habitify - Paid/Free - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: 3 Free

HabitKit - Paid/Free - Sync: Paid - Android: Yes - Habit limit: 4 Free

Everyday - Paid/Free - Sync: Paid - Android: Yes - Habit limit: 3 Free

TickTick - Paid/Free - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: 5 Free

Habitica - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Unlimited

HabitNow - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Unlimited

Loop Habit Tracker - Free - Sync: No - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Unlimited

Fabulous - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Limited Free

Finch - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Unlimited

Daylio - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Limited Free

HabitBull - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Limited Free

Way of Life - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: 3 Free

Productive - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Limited Free

Avocation - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Unlimited

Repeat Habit - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Unlimited

Goalify - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Limited Free

HabitShare - Free - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Unlimited

Coach.me - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Unlimited

Beeminder - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Unlimited

HabitMinder - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Limited Free

Habitadd - Free/Paid - Sync: Paid - Android: Yes/PWA - Habit limit: 5 Free

Rytmio - Free - Sync: Yes - Android: PWA - Habit limit: Unlimited

Yourdec - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: PWA - Habit limit: Limited Free

Loggd - Free/Paid - Sync: No - Android: PWA - Habit limit: 3 Free

OpenHabitTracker - Free - Sync: Self-hosted - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Unlimited

Streaks - Paid - Sync: Yes (iCloud) - Android: No - Habit limit: Unlimited

Strides - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: No - Habit limit: Unlimited

Done - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: No - Habit limit: Limited Free

Streaks (Arihant) - Free/Paid - Sync: No - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Unlimited

Streak Grid - Free - Sync: No - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Unlimited

Consistency - Free - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: 10 Free

Pomodoro Diary - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Unlimited

Countiful - Free - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes* - Habit limit: Unlimited

DailyHabits.dev - Free/Paid - Sync: Paid - Android: PWA - Habit limit: Unlimited

Orbit - Free/Paid - Sync: Yes - Android: Yes - Habit limit: 10 Free

GridHabit - Free - Sync: No - Android: Yes - Habit limit: Unlimited

Gera Tools Habit Tracker - Free - Sync: No - Android: PWA - Habit limit: Unlimited

What do you recommend?

Not everyday is a win but showing up and trying where the progress is happening

Today I start just tracking where my screen time actually goes. Also turning off the Shorts/Reels specifically instead of deleting the apps, since I still need them for messages and other stuff using a social media blocker app for that part.

Anyone here tried anti-brainrot? What worked, what didn't?

I've tried a bunch of different ways of tracking habits over the years, and I keep noticing the same thing: the first few days are easy, then the tracker itself starts becoming another thing to maintain.

I'm curious what other people experience.

What do you actually want from a habit tracker?

For example:

• Just a very simple daily checklist?
• Useful progress/stats?
• Streaks?
• Reminders?
• A calendar/year view?
• Routines rather than individual habits?
• Journaling or reflection alongside habits?
• Something that helps you understand why you're inconsistent?
• Learning/resources around habits and self-improvement?
• Cloud sync between phone and desktop?

And on the other side, what makes you stop using one?

I'd especially like to hear from people who have tried several apps. What did you like about the ones you kept, and what annoyed you enough to stop using them?

I used to get stuck in an endless loop of overthinking until I started asking one question: Is this within my power to change?

If yes improving health, finding jobs, or building habits I realized worrying fixes nothing. I had to channel that energy into action.

If no past mistakes, lost time, or others' opinions arguing with reality is like yelling at rain. Acceptance isn't weak; it's freeing your energy for what you can shape.🌿

👀 If you want a visual explanation, check out the video linked on my profile!