Does tracking your progress really make a difference?
Short answer
Yes. Across 138 experiments, people prompted to monitor their progress were more likely to reach their goals, and the effect was larger when progress was written down or shared with someone.
Key points
- Checking progress is one of the most reliable aids to reaching a goal.
- Recording it physically works better than keeping it in your head.
- Reporting it to someone strengthens the effect.
What the research found
A 2016 meta-analysis pooled 138 studies with nearly 20,000 people. Interventions that got people to check their progress more often also helped them reach their goals. The benefit was larger when progress was physically recorded, and when it was reported to someone or made public.
Why it works
Progress you can see tells you whether to keep going, speed up or change course. Without it, a plan drifts until the deadline arrives as a surprise.
Keep it light
Tracking does not need to be elaborate. A tick for done and a word for how it went is enough to notice a pattern.
In your plan
Each day of your plan has a place for a note. On an Adaptive Plan those notes shape the days still to come; on any plan they are your record of how it went.
Related questions
How do notes change my plan?
On an Adaptive Plan, a note about how a day went is read when the next part of the plan is built, so the days ahead can ease off or step up. On a Full Plan, notes are your own record.
Read the full answerHow do you know a plan is working?
Look for the quiet signs first: what felt hard starts to feel ordinary, you recover faster, and you are further into the plan than you expected. Give it several weeks before judging the headline result.
Read the full answerWhy does a written plan make you more likely to follow through?
Because wanting to do something and doing it are different things. Deciding in advance when, where and how you will act closes much of that gap, and the effect shows up across dozens of experiments.
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