Google Calendar is a great way to keep track of your life goals and to end bad habits that are holding you back.
What Is Atomic Habits?
In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear dives deeply into the psychology behind why some people are able to make good habits stick, and put bad habits to rest. ..
- You can change your life by changing your attitude
- Change your attitude and you will change your life
- Change your attitude and you will change the world
Success in life comes from developing effective habits that support your ideal identity. rather than focusing on big-picture goals, focus on developing an effective habits-based system. Change your habits by analyzing your ideal identity and crafting your habits to support it.
The Four Laws of Behavior Change are:
- Be consistent
- Be polite
- Be helpful
- Be positive
According to Clear, your environment is the key factor that supports change. If you use Google Calendar every day, you can tailor it in a way that supports your efforts toward behavior change.
1. Get Your Habits Ready for Google Calendar
If you haven’t read this book yet, I’ll walk you through quick steps to collect your habits in preparation for loading them into Google Calendar.
To make it obvious which habits you should work on, start by creating a Google Sheets spreadsheet. This will allow you to track your progress and see which habits are the most important for you. Once you have your list of habits, start working on them one at a time. Make sure that each habit is easy to do and has a high frequency. ..
- Identity: How do you identify yourself?
- Habits: What do you do every day that makes you happy?
- Frequency: How often do you do these things?
The identity column should be filled out with personal identity statements that form the core positive beliefs you have about who you are as a person.
The Habits column lists daily habits that support positive identities. And finally, the Frequency column will detail how often you plan to practice those positive habits. ..
Google Calendar is a great tool for encouraging and initiating good habits. By using it, you can easily keep track of your commitments and stay on track with your goals. ..
2. Schedule Habits as Google Calendar Events
To start the habit of writing, log in to Google Calendar and create a new event. This will achieve the “make it easy” part of habit planning.
If you’re using Google Calendar as your primary calendar, you’ll need to customize the event details to work with your habits.
To make it easier to stick to your daily routine, try setting a day event notification for each habit you want to practice. This way, you’ll know when it’s time to get up and start your day. ..
To ensure you’re reminded to do this every day, set the dropdown recurring frequency (set to “Do not repeat” by default) to the frequency you want to do that habit.
I want to set the dropdown to “Every weekday” so that the frequency for this is set to be every day.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the best frequency for each individual’s habit will vary. However, some general tips to keep in mind include:
- Choose a frequency that works for you. If you find that you’re not able to stick to your habit every day, try switching up the frequency a bit. For example, try doing your habit every other day instead of every day.
- Make sure the frequency is manageable. If you find that you can’t stick to your new frequency because it’s too difficult or time-consuming, consider changing it back to daily or weekly. This way, it will be easier for you to follow through with your goal and maintain consistency in your habits.
- Be realistic about how long it will take you to form and maintain a new habit. It can take up to 21 days for a new habit to become established in our brains,[1] so be patient and don’t expect everything to happen overnight! ..
Next, you’ll want to set up a reminder for your event. Default notifications have a snooze delay added to them. To fix this, click Add notification and set the snooze to 0 minutes before the event.
Make a list of the habits you want to develop
Set a date for when you’ll start doing each habit
Do the habit for one day
Check in with yourself after the first day to see if you’ve made any progress
Get up and get moving
Make coffee
Check my email
Get dressed and head to work
Work until lunchtime
Eat a light lunch and come back to work
Work until late at night or until the next day’s work is done
Each of these habits includes the automatic setting and notification for that time in the morning. ..
3. Set Up Clear Notifications You Can’t Miss
With Google Calendar, you can easily keep track of your events and notifications even when you’re not connected to the internet. This makes it easy to stay organized and on top of your schedule, whether you’re at work or home.
If you’re using Google Calendar, make sure to log in to Google Calendar and select the gear icon to open Google Calendar settings.
-Select the time you want to receive notifications -Select the type of notifications you want to receive -Select the channels you want to receive notifications from -Select which apps you want to receive notifications from After making your selections, click on the “Notifications” button at the bottom of the window. To adjust notification settings for individual apps, open each app’s notification settings and make your selections there. ..
Notifications: Desktop notifications will show snoozed notifications if they have been left unplayed for 0 minutes before the event. If you want to be notified only if you have responded “Yes” or “Maybe”, then disable notifications. ..
Desktop pop-up notifications are better than push notifications because they will only go to email, which is more likely to be ignored if you need to do the habit. ..
Next, you’ll want to set up the Google Calendar app on your mobile device to receive event notifications. Make sure you’ve installed Google Calendar on your Android or on your iOS device.
Launch the app and select the hamburger “menu” icon at the upper left. From Settings, select Privacy. ..
In the General settings menu, tap Settings.
In the General menu, select Calendar notifications and then tap Notify on this device.
-Notification sound: On or Off -Alert sound: On or Off
- vibration: On or Off To turn off all notifications, adjust the following settings to “Off”: Notification sound: Off Alert sound: Off Vibration: Off ..
EnabledAlert: SelectedShow as pop-up: EnabledSound: Choose any alert sound you preferIgnore Do not disturb: Adjust to whether you’d like notifications even with Do not disturb enabled.
After you finish working on your positive habits, you will not receive reminders from the app or computer. Most people use their phone as their alarm clock, so the phone is a great way to receive morning habit reminders. ..
4. Make It Attractive and Satisfying With Apps
The last thing you’ll need to ensure you’re motivated to keep doing these habits is to make it attractive and satisfying to listen to your Google Calendar reminders.
To make it more interesting, you should try something new for a habit that you have been wanting to try. ..
I hit the gym on Monday and Wednesday. I also want to spend time with my wife on Saturday and Sunday. We love watching Netflix movies together, so I pair that activity after the gym event. The next day, we order a healthy Doordash meal after the gym as a once-per-week reward for successfully working out that week.
By following tough good habits with fun good habits, you’re making those more difficult habits more attractive. You have something to look forward to afterward!
Using a goal-tracking app can help make finishing habits more satisfying. My favorite goal-tracking app is Timecap, which is available for both Android and iPhone. It’s a paid app, but there are plenty of other free goal-tracking apps out there. ..
According to recent psychological research, checking off completed habits in a goal-tracking app can satisfy and motivate us. This is especially true if the app creates “streaks” of periods where you’ve successfully completed the habit many times in a row. ..
Start Positive Habits and Improve Yourself
By setting goals and sticking to them, you can improve your odds of achieving them. Use tools like Google Calendar and goal tracking apps to keep track of your progress and make sure you’re on track.
Remember, success is not a destination, it’s a journey. So start small and work your way up. ..
