Creating a habit tracker in Notion that actually sticks and helps you achieve your goals can be a game changer in how you organize your life and track your progress. With the sheer adaptability of Notion, the possibilities are as vast as your creativity.
However, navigating these possibilities to create an effective habit tracker can be daunting. That’s where the insights of those who have mastered this tool come into play.
In this article, we’ve reached out to nine prolific Notion creators who have turned the art of habit tracking into a science. They’ve each carved out their own unique strategies and designs, shaping spaces that not only motivate but also sustain daily progress towards personal goals. I asked them four critical questions to uncover the core of their success, gathering a rich blend of advice and innovative tips.
These are the experts helping us out today, make sure to follow them, they constantly share valuable content!
The second button will take you to their Habit Trackers.
Whether you’re a seasoned Notion user or just starting out, this compilation of expert advice will provide you with the inspiration and guidance needed to create a habit tracker that is both functional and enjoyable to use. Dive in to learn from the best, and begin crafting a habit-tracking system that truly enhances your daily routine and personal productivity.
I wanted my habit tracker to stand out among all the many tracker templates out there. So before I started building my habit tracker, I had end goals in mind and these are driven by principles.
The first one is prioritizing simplicity and flexibility.
The other one, boost motivation with psychology and metrics
Ease of use, simplicity, and intuitive functionality.
As a college student, I’ve been through several types of habit trackers. Some worked for me, some didn’t. Some were unnecessarily complex and some were simple.
I found that the best ones are usually the simplest–people really just want a simply visual way to track their habits. As a Notion Creator, I prioritize function and design over complexity. Ease of use, simplicity, and intuitive functionality (it should be so simple your customers wouldn’t need a tutorial to use it.)
When designing a habit tracker in Notion, I prioritize simplicity, customization, and functionality. Simplicity ensures that the tracker is easy to use and understand at a glance, avoiding unnecessary complexity. Customization allows users to tailor the tracker to their specific needs, making it more relevant and effective. Functionality ensures that the tracker not only looks good but also works seamlessly, integrating well with other aspects of their workflow in Notion.
At the beginning, like every good beginner, my habit tracker looked more like a grocery list than anything else. But thanks to the templates shared by the community and the “Notioners” who share tutorials on YouTube, I have been able to create my habit tracker in my particular style.
I look for two key principles in a habit tracker: Habit Variety and Progress Tracking. This is because individuals need to track various types of habits, whether they are daily, weekly, or occur a certain number of times per week. Progress Tracking is also important as it visually displays our progress, which can boost performance.
Habits are usually actions we take every day and building a “Habit Tracker” is practically a system that can take into account our habits consistently over a long period.
The person who uses it must be able to see the compounding effect over time in a way that motivates them to use it more. That’s the whole point/principle of designing it.
For me, it is important to make the system easy to use, and non-threatening. What I mean by that is it’s important to me that the system doesn’t point out when you are failing, and is meant to be encouraging and friendly. I do this by utilizing a calendar view that only populates with the checkmarks if you use the “log new day” button. Otherwise, the template will leave the day blank. This ensures that during periods of low energy or depression, that your habit tracker isn’t constantly reminding you of things you aren’t doing.
My Gamified Habit Tracker utilizes gamification to encourage users to be consistent with their habits. Unlike most types of habit trackers, my design uses a simple dashboard of pre-set habit buttons. You simply tap the habits you’ve done for the day, and out comes a motivating visual feedback on the calendar that says “+500 EXP!” and so on.
The principle here is that feedback really motivates users, it is an aspect of gamification. When users can visually see their progress over a week, it really hones in on the whole “leveling up” inner child we have. It’s the same thing we experience when we play RPG games.
This is also a major function of Gamified Life OS, my more premium (but simple) habit tracker.
My personal habit tracker in Notion includes several key features designed to enhance both usability and functionality. Firstly, I have a daily view that allows me to quickly check off habits as I complete them. This helps in maintaining daily accountability. I also include progress bars and visual indicators that provide an overview of how consistently I’m meeting my goals over time. These features help in identifying patterns and areas for improvement.
Basically, my habit tracker consists of a list of habits along with some features that describe their status. It also contains an overview of the process and lastly, a motivational quote that helps me in strive towards achieving that goal.
The key features of my habit tracker include reminders and note-taking. Users can set reminders to help them remember to complete their habits, and there is space to add notes. This allows users to note down any thoughts or ideas that come to mind.
But, it’s divided into 3 sections based on the timeframe :
I believe these simple, yet important ideations form the basis of a good “Habit Tracker”.
Using a calendar view for my habit tracker, allows people to be more flexible with the days they choose to log habits. I also created a small daily check-in widget that you can place on your home dashboard to log a new day and mark off habits. While also utilizing buttons on the main habit tracker page, making it even easier to mark off habits. This system is easy for beginners to use and also simple and efficient for experienced users as well.
Focus on functionality first,
Before diving into aesthetics, experiment with different habit trackers (digital and analog) to discover what works for you. This helps you understand what features and layouts keep you engaged. After, map out the flow of your tracker. Sketch a flowchart or use notes to visualize how you’ll add habits, track progress, and review trends. Then after, it’s time to build the structure. Use Notion’s databases to create sections for habits, daily entries, and monthly summaries. This ensures your tracker is well-organized.
Now, enhance the look and feel,
1. Once you have the backend set up, link database views to your main dashboard. This will display your habit data in a user-friendly way.
Customer first. Forget coming up with the next big-complicated thing. Sometimes people need a simple solution that isn’t already there. You need to fill that gap instead of widening it.
Focus on visual feedback: they should see their progress and habits. Then intuitive functionality: the tracker should be so simple they could understand how to use it in 5 seconds. And finally, ease of use: they should be able to add, remove, edit, and customize the habits they want without any hassle at all.
My primary tip for making habit trackers both visually appealing and practical is to start by creating them with a focus on how they can improve not just your life, but also the lives of your family, friends, and community. Use clean and organized layouts to ensure that the tracker is easy to navigate and use daily. Incorporate colors and icons to visually distinguish between different habits and progress markers, but avoid clutter to maintain a clean aesthetic. Utilize Notion’s database features to categorize and filter habits, and make use of templates to streamline repetitive tasks. Finally, personalize your tracker to reflect your style and preferences, ensuring it remains engaging and motivating for everyday use.
A clear layout and simple yet productive to use.
To create visually appealing and practical habit trackers for everyday use, consider different colors for different habits to make them more visually appealing. Use visual progress trackings like progress bars or checkmarks, providing customization options, and ensuring mobile-friendly design. These features can enhance usability and appeal, making habit trackers more effective tools for tracking and maintaining habits.
I love minimally designing my Habit Tracker, but using charts within your Habit Tracker will make it more visually appealing.
The practicality of the template is reflected by how good it is to show how the daily effort scales to months and even years.
Visual widget to display current status, and the habit database in gallery mode with checkboxes.
Also, I created a mobile page with today’s habits checkboxes so you can easily mark habits done.
I think having a habit tracker that uses images, emojis, colors, and icons to convey something calming and peaceful is helpful. My habit tracker has a sunrise/sunset theme that is calming and pleasant to look at. Anytime you are working with data that can cause you to feel overwhelmed easily (habit tracker) I choose to give it a theme that is calming. I find this helps me utilize it more if I enjoy looking at the data and tracker.
Planning is Key:
Before diving into Notion, plan your habit tracker’s flow.
Building Your Tracker:
Once you have a plan, it’s time to build in Notion:
Use Notion’s database feature to create separate sections for your habits, daily entries, and monthly summaries. Each database will hold specific information.
Think Long-Term. Don’t get caught up in creating an overly complex tracker. Focus on features you’ll consistently use in the long run. A simple and sustainable tracker is better than a feature-rich one you abandon later.
Stand out. Please don’t copy, don’t steal. That happens a lot. You can refine, improve it, make it much better, and so on. But don’t outright copy other trackers. Try to make yours unique and solve a problem better. My Gamified Habit Tracker is really quite simple, heck, any Notion Creator could make it–but I chose to focus on unique problem-solving value.
When building your first habit tracker in Notion, my advice is to start simple. Don’t try to create something overly complicated at the beginning. The best approach is to keep it as straightforward as possible and gradually learn to create more complex features. Begin with a basic layout that includes your essential habits and a simple checkbox system. As you become more comfortable with Notion’s functionalities, you can start integrating more advanced features like progress bars, automatic date rollovers, and custom formulas. Remember, the goal is to create a habit tracker that you will actually use daily, so it should be user-friendly and not overwhelming. Take advantage of the vast resources available within the Notion community, including templates and tutorials, especially from Notioners who are YouTubers, to enhance your tracker as you go along.
First and foremost advice is to start. Then experiment with what works best for you. Lastly, customize along the way.
Keep it simple. People appreciate simplicity. Don’t worry, just start. By starting, you can eventually create an awesome habit tracker.
My advice for someone making a habit tracker would be to make it simple and easy to use. It should be something we are used to. Give it to your customers take testimonials from them and find a problem about it. what features can you add on? Make a progress like that. Customize regularly and make it funky and much more fun-looking template so you can come there are check it more often so you can be serious about that looking at the data.
For starters, build for yourself and test it. If it’s your first Habit Tracker, Notion itself must be pretty new to you and this is the best time to go all in on the “experiment mode”.
At this point, don’t look for inspiration from other creators to build your template, since you’ll fix your mindset to that specific idea of building it.
Build 5 different versions of your own Habit Trackers, and share them with other creators to test how unique your templates are. You’ll eventually see success.
Start with something very simple, when it works, add new features.
Try out a bunch of different views until you find what you like! Notion is an amazing tool to use to create anything, and finding ways to make it special and function how you want is always fun. Remember there is no wrong or right way to set up a page, rather it is important to do what works best for you!
As we wrap up our exploration into the world of Notion habit trackers, it’s clear that the key to a successful system lies in its ability to be uniquely tailored to your personal needs and lifestyle. The insights shared by our Notion experts offer a treasure trove of strategies, from the minimalist to the complex, proving that there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to productivity and habit formation.
I hope that the diverse array of tips and advice provided here inspires you to experiment with your own designs and find what truly works for you. Remember, the perfect habit tracker is not just about monitoring your habits—it’s about transforming your daily practices in ways that move you closer to your aspirations.
So take what you’ve learned, apply the creativity and insights from these seasoned Notion users, and start building a habit tracker that keeps you engaged, reflects your personal flair, and most importantly, supports your continuous growth. Here’s to making tracking less of a chore and more of a stepping stone to achieving your greatest goals!
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