Found a weird hack for tracking water intake in my bujo

I kept forgetting to drink water during work, so I tried drawing a little glass icon for each 8oz I wanted to hit. Turns out coloring them in with a Sharpie is oddly satisfying and I actually hit my goal of 64oz for 5 days straight last week. Does anyone else add little doodle trackers for habits they normally hate? My problem is finding space for them without ruining my weekly layout.

3 comments

3 Comments

hill.andrew1mo ago

I read somewhere that the act of physically coloring something in triggers a tiny dopamine hit, which is probably why that Sharpie trick works so well. For the space problem, I've seen people do a mini version on the edge of their weekly spread, like a tiny row of 8 little squares that take up maybe an inch total. Or you could do a vertical column down the margin, that way it doesn't mess with your main layout at all. I've also heard of people using washi tape as a baseline and just marking dots on it, which saves even more room.

grant.sam1mo ago

Oh totally, my friend Jen tried the washi tape thing after seeing it on some planner Instagram. She marked little dots along a strip of pink tape on her monthly layout and it worked okay for like two days. Then her toddler got into her desk and the whole tape roll ended up wrapped around a stuffed unicorn. She just draws little boxes now in her margins with a regular pen. Way less stressful.

alex_nguyen29d ago

Dude yes the dopamine hit from coloring stuff in is totally real. I got super into those little habit tracker charts for a while and would get irrationally happy coloring in each square. But the problem is I always overcommit and then feel guilty looking at blank squares. Now I just do a tiny row of like 5 dots next to my weekly tasks and cross them off with a pen instead. Way less pressure but still scratches that itch.