If you’re not tracking your habits daily, you’re flying blind. And when you do start to track them, it could lead to one of the biggest turning points in your health and fitness journey.

Why? Well, because when you track, you create data. And that data gives you clarity. Instead of guessing how you’re doing, you can literally watch your habits shaping up in real time in front of you. And it’s that full picture that builds the one thing that changes everything: self-awareness.

Self-awareness is the unlock. It’s what lets you make small pivots, before slips become spirals. Without it, you never get the nudge to do something different — you just end up drifting. With it, you start making better choices, and then those choices stack into stronger weeks and months. And strong months are what drive real transformation.

To show you how this works, here’s how I’ve been tracking September, habit by habit. As you read, think about how you’d apply the same lens to your own habits.

This one is always an easy one because I’m sober. So, it’s always 100%. That said, I still track it because it reinforces momentum and reminds me where I’ve come from.

For the first 11 days, I’ve averaged over seven hours a night — in fact, closer to eight hours. Seeing that 100% consistency record is super motivating, but it’s also a reminder: don’t get complacent. A strong lead doesn’t always guarantee a strong finish.

Much the same story as sleep. Because I’m in a muscle-building phase and able to eat more calories, protein is fairly easy to hit. My tracking shows me I’m at 100% consistency, which is great. But, it also keeps me focused on not slipping later.

Both caffeine and water are nearly perfect so far. I have one miss each. Seeing that is a really big boost for me. But again, the early wins only matter if I stay consistent.

Ok, here’s the struggle point. I’m sitting at around 40%, and that’s far too low. Whole foods is one of my hardest habits, because I’m still in the mid stages of building it and also I have a huge sweet tooth. The data makes it clear: if I want to hit even 50% consistency by month-end, I need to tighten up right now.

Steps have been a weak spot most of this year, but September looks different. Only three misses so far, which is super good. The key change? I stopped relying on one big walk and started stacking smaller walks throughout the day. Tracking shows it’s working and that pushes me to keep it up.

Fasting is a new habit this month. I have just three misses so far, which is way better than I expected. The 12pm start is easy, but the 8pm cutoff is what’s super tough. Still, tracking makes it obvious: on days I fast, calories stay on target. On days I don’t, they blow up. That awareness changes my daily choices.

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Earlier this week I skipped fasting a couple of days, which pushed my calories too high. If I wasn’t tracking, I might not have noticed. But because I was tracking, I saw the trend straight away. I then decided I needed to correct things immediately. So, today becomes a one-meal-a-day reset. That decision only happened because I had the data in front of me.

Tracking is critical because it creates self-awareness. And self-awareness is what drives better choices.

Here’s what tracking does for me:

So, my big advice here is stop leaving your habits to chance. Start tracking them, starting today. You don’t need to over-complicate this. Use a simple paper sheet, tick them off daily, and watch the picture build.