Research indicates that it takes 66 days to develop a habit. That’s a little over two months of unwavering commitment.
Building good habits with consistency can easily become overwhelming, especially when juggling many goals and commitments. Fortunately, a habit tracker template offers a simple and structured framework for tracking progress, staying motivated, and holding yourself accountable.
Whether you have a personal goal, such as making exercise a daily habit, or a professional one, like acquiring a new skill, these templates provide a visual and flexible way to stay on top of things.
You don’t even need a fancy habit tracker app to get started! With the right template, you can use Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets to lock down a desirable habit.
To help you, here are some of the top free habit tracker spreadsheet templates on Excel that increase your success rate. We’ve also rounded up the best alternative templates from ClickUp. Let’s get started!
- What Are Habit Tracker Templates?
- What Makes a Good Habit Tracker Template?
- 4 Free Habit Tracker Spreadsheet Templates for Excel
- Limitations of Using Excel for Habit Tracking
- Alternative Habit Tracker Templates
- 1. ClickUp Personal Habit Tracker Template
- 2. ClickUp Work To Do Template
- 3. ClickUp Daily Things To Do Template
- 4. ClickUp Calendar To Do List Template
- 5. ClickUp Personal Development Plan Template
- 6. ClickUp Daily Personal Schedule for Kids Template
- 7. ClickUp Personal Productivity Template
- 8. ClickUp SMART Goals Template
What Are Habit Tracker Templates?
Habit tracker templates are pre-designed tools that empower individuals to develop new habits. Most habit tracker templates are formatted as spreadsheets, allowing you to set goals, log habits, and track your progress visually.
To facilitate this, the templates allow you to record your daily routines and behaviors over time. Visiting your actions and performance allows you to cultivate discipline and maintain accountability.
You could opt for templates with simple checkboxes to mark the completion of a single habit, elaborate color-coding for distinct habits, or even journal your day’s activities or habits.
Once you start keeping such a record, it becomes easier to observe patterns, identify challenges, and celebrate small victories—all of which help develop deeply rooted, positive habits.
What Makes a Good Habit Tracker Template?
To develop good habits, you need a good habit tracker template. Here are some qualities that should feature in a good habit tracker spreadsheet template:
- Intuitive: Select templates that are easy to use and understand without any overwhelming complexity
- Customization: Choose templates that can be modified to adapt to the user’s goals, preferences, different categories of habits, periodicity, etc.
- Demarcations: Pick templates that have clearly defined sections for different habits, their names, tracking frequency (daily actions, weekly activities, monthly habits), and progress logging
- Visual Aids: Go for templates with elements like color-coding, progress bar, chart, etc., to display information at a glance
- Accessibility: Prioritize templates that are accessible at any time and from anywhere. For example, you should have access to it through a digital planner mobile app or browser-based portal
- Consistency: Settle on templates with a consistent layout that encourages habit tracking with negligible cognitive load or difficulties
- Navigability: Opt for well-defined and easy-to-navigate sections. Templates with such designs guide users into taking action without any confusion or clutter
4 Free Habit Tracker Spreadsheet Templates for Excel
Let’s dive into four free habit tracker templates for Excel and Google Sheets:
1. Habit Tracker Template by You Exec
The Habit Tracker Template by You Exec makes tracking daily and weekly habits easy. A clear layout allows you to categorize different habits into dedicated columns and check off each day as you complete them.
It has a built-in weekly summary feature that automatically calculates and offers a preview of the percentage of habits completed to track consistency in building the new habit. The template also has a habit rating section, allowing you to reflect on how each habit impacts your overall well-being, development, or productivity.
Here’s why you’ll love it:
- Color code daily, weekly, and monthly habits
- Motivate yourself with personalized rewards for every habit completed
- Create and track more than 400 types of daily, weekly, and monthly habits for an entire year
Ideal use case: Suited for students and working professionals who need a structured daily or monthly habit tracker to monitor progress on personal or work-related goals in a visual format.
2. Habit Tracker Calendar Template by You Exec
The Habit Tracker Calendar Template by You Exec embeds a monthly habit tracker into a calendar layout, allowing you to visualize progress across specific dates or periods. Checking off daily habits gives you an overview of your performance and commitment for the entire month.
The template also features color-coded sections that help you visually identify the days you successfully stuck to a habit versus those you didn’t. It’s a great way to watch your daily activities unfold monthly.
Here’s why you’ll love it:
- Visualize the habit tracker spreadsheet as a calendar, allowing you to plan and review habits over time
- Automate calculations and color code visuals to monitor consistency more intuitively
- Customize habit-tracking timelines, such as daily, weekly, or monthly habits, for flexible habit-building
Ideal use case: It’s great for project managers, planners, and anybody who prefers a monthly habit tracker that integrates with a timeline and a calendar view.
3. Habit Tracker Excel Template by Ultimate Printables
The Habit Tracker Excel Template by Ultimate Printables allows you to track multiple new habits across different categories. It will enable you to customize the habit tracker at a granular level, down to the habit name, tracking period, and completion status.
So, whether you want to improve work prioritization or ensure that you drink water at regular intervals, this template helps.
Here’s why you’ll love it:
- Simplify habit tracking with a clean, minimalistic design that’s easy to update daily
- Download and print the template for effortless offline tracking for a digital and physical habit tracker system
- Features dynamic charts and progress bars that update in real-time as you log your progress, offering visual feedback on how well you’re doing
Ideal use case: It is ideal for users who want a minimalist, printable habit tracker. Online and offline access allows users to remember crucial habits without unnecessary complexity.
4. Habit Tracker Excel Template by Silk and Sonder
Next, we have the Habit Tracker Excel Template by Silk and Sonder, which takes a holistic view of developing good habits. It encourages you to focus on habits that drive productivity, promote well-being, nurture relationships, and focus on health.
The template tracks habits by breaking them down into daily, weekly, and monthly tasks, allowing you to create a plan for short- and long-term goals.
There is also a section to exercise reflection and journaling that assesses how each habit contributes to overall growth and helps you achieve balance. This well-rounded perspective will also help you feel satisfied on personal and professional fronts.
Here’s why you’ll love it:
- View your habit progress across an aesthetically designed habit tracker spreadsheet with charts and graphs
- Edit the template to reflect your habits, such as personal productivity, monthly money management, exercise and fitness goals, etc.
- Also available along with the template is a printable circular habit tracker
Ideal use case: Perfect for visual learners who prefer a visually aesthetic habit tracker Excel template, free of charge. Everyone, from creatives to self-improvement enthusiasts, can use it to track all their habits.
Limitations of Using Excel for Habit Tracking
Although each free habit tracker spreadsheet discussed above delivers value, ‌it is bound by the platform’s limitations.
Here are some challenges that you might encounter while using Excel to monitor habits:
- Requires regular, manual data entry, which becomes increasingly tedious and time-consuming as the number of habits increases
- Lacks built-in reminders, real-time notifications, or automated habit-tracking features, making it easier to forget to update the spreadsheet
- Limited integrations with other productivity tools or apps that you use on the regular make it difficult to import and work on the habit tracker spreadsheet in different environments
- Although charts and graphs are available in Excel, the limited visualizations are less motivating when compared to dynamic elements
- Lacks interactive and engaging elements like rewards, gamification, sticky notes, etc., which otherwise increase the stickiness of using the habit tracker
- While you can access Excel (and even Google Sheets) on mobile devices, the experience is not as seamless as dedicated habit-tracking apps optimized for smartphone users
- Lacks community or social features that allow you to share progress and achievements with others
Friendly reminder: All the habits we aim to build are compounded by daily actions. Hence, it’s the everyday systems you integrate into your life that make the real difference.
Alternative Habit Tracker Templates
Considering the limitations discussed above, we suggest looking for Excel alternatives to facilitate the development of new habits.
Fortunately, help is around the corner.
ClickUp is a powerful productivity tool that adapts to your requirements in several ways—from project management to goal tracking. It transforms into a robust habit tracker and has 1000+ templates for you to begin with!
Here’s a look at some of our popular and free habit tracker templates:
1. ClickUp Personal Habit Tracker Template
Your search for a highly versatile and customizable habit tracker finally ends here. The Personal Habit Tracker Template by ClickUp streamlines habit tracking by making it simple, flexible, and convenient.
Customize the different sections to input the habit of your choice, define the frequency, and monitor various facets of your life—from your morning routine to health and fitness.
The template also offers dynamic progress bars and summary views that provide a clear performance overview without overwhelming you with data.
Here’s why you’ll love it:
- Sort habits by category or priority, allowing you to focus on critical areas of improvement
- Follow improvement with progress bars and interactive charts that visually reflect your consistency
- Personalize habit fields to align with daily goals and individual preferences
- Create reminders for you to stick to habits and maintain accountability
Ideal use case: Suitable for individuals seeking an all-around and comprehensive habit tracker with integrated task management. This free habit tracker works best for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and everyone looking to balance personal and professional responsibilities and goals.
2. ClickUp Work To Do Template
The ClickUp Work To Do Template helps manage daily habits in a professional environment. With separate columns for task names, due dates, priorities, and completion status, this habit tracker template makes task management a habit.
Here’s why you’ll love it:
- Organize and prioritize work depending on due dates and urgency to cultivate work-related habits strategically
- Track progress through visual cues that indicate task completion, encouraging consistency in habit-building at the workplace
- Customize the template to fit specific roles and industries to apply for different professional settings
- Collaborate with team members and maintain transparency and accountability against task responsibilities and deadlines
Ideal use case: This dynamic habit tracker is perfect for professionals working in a fast-paced environment. It helps individuals manage work-related tasks, making it suitable for project managers, team leads, and anybody handling multiple tasks.
3. ClickUp Daily Things To Do Template
If you’re looking for a daily habit tracker, ClickUp’s Daily Things To Do Template should be your pick. This template offers a customizable checklist of everyday activities, from self-care to work-related tasks.
Additionally, you get a dedicated space to assign priorities and deadlines per action item. It’s an excellent tool for individuals to convert their to-do list into an efficient habit tracker, keeping everything organized in a single place.
Here’s why you’ll love it:
- Break down larger tasks into manageable activities, making it easier to build a habit
- Monitor daily progress with clear checkboxes and task completion progress bars for visual tracking
- Create daily tasks and assign priorities, ensuring that you complete critical habits first
- Integrate habit tracking with daily task management to accomplish goals in a cohesive environment
Ideal use case: It is the right fit for people who wear multiple hats, such as students, busy professionals, and even homemakers who like to organize and prioritize tasks effectively.
4. ClickUp Calendar To Do List Template
The ClickUp Calendar To Do List Template blends calendar-based task management with habit tracking to give you a date-specific overview of your habits and goals.
The calendar layout lets you track daily, weekly, monthly, and sporadically occurring habits. With built-in deadline tracking and automated progress summaries, this template makes habit tracking both visual and structured.
Here’s why you’ll love it:
- Schedule habits in advance, especially by assigning them to deadlines or important dates
- Monitor and map habits over a period in the calendar view for long- and short-term progress tracking
- Achieve habit development and improve time management by aligning habits with specific deadlines
- Sync with other calendar apps to centralize commitments and make the best use of the time
Ideal use case: This template is suitable for planners, event managers, and executives who prefer to organize tasks and habits in the calendar view to meet tight deadlines.
5. ClickUp Personal Development Plan Template
The ClickUp Personal Development Plan Template improves your success rate in setting, tracking, and achieving personal development goals apart from things to do at work. It offers dedicated sections to outline short- and long-term goals while providing tools for tracking habits related to personal growth, self-improvement, skill development, and more.
The template includes progress indicators, milestone trackers, and goal-setting prompts to help you stay on track with your personal development journey.
Here’s why you’ll love it:
- Set clear milestones for personal growth, lending structure and discipline to self-improvement
- Assess growth through the built-in progress bar, review section, etc., to reflect on goals
- Track development habits with dynamic progress bars and indicators that motivate you and grant you a sense of accomplishment
- Plan for continuous growth in different aspects of life to meet short and long-term objectives
Ideal use case: Use the Personal Development Plan Template to mark your growth journey. Life coaches, mentors, and others committed to self-improvement benefit from incorporating this template into their daily lives.
6. ClickUp Daily Personal Schedule for Kids Template
Parents must be extremely mindful so their kids don’t develop bad habits in their former years. The Daily Personal Schedule for Kids Template by ClickUp assists with this, preparing structured schedules for your kids to follow.
Dedicated sections for daily activities, chores, study time, and other good habits slowly integrate them into your child’s routine. The clear, visual schedule makes building positive habits a child’s play (pun intended)!
Here’s why you’ll love it:
- Structured daily routines for your kids to cultivate good habits and make them stick
- Engage with children through colorful visuals and interactive designs to make routine building fun
- Monitor daily, weekly, and monthly habits with visual aids like checkboxes and different colors to keep children engaged and involved
- Adapt the schedule for different age groups and family dynamics
Ideal use case
As the name suggests, this is designed for busy parents and educators who wish to cultivate structured daily routines for their children. Consequently, children develop and commit to good habits with a clear, visual schedule.
7. ClickUp Personal Productivity Template
The Personal Productivity Template on ClickUp helps you optimize your habits in a whiff. Use it to categorize tasks based on urgency and importance, set deadlines, stack habits, and track progress to get more done in less.
Moreover, this template helps you achieve productivity goals, maintain laser-sharp focus, and reduce procrastination to make productivity a habit.
Here’s why you’ll love it:
- Prioritize tasks based on urgency and importance to align habits with high-impact activities
- Fix productivity goals using customizable fields and track progress through visual indicators
- Boost efficiency and productivity by combining habit tracking with personal task management
- Analyze productivity trends over time with reporting features
Ideal use case: This template improves overall efficiency for anyone looking to boost personal productivity and track habits. Freelancers, remote workers, and individuals should use it to maximize their daily output.
8. ClickUp SMART Goals Template
Those with experience with personal productivity tools should know the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) framework.
The ClickUp SMART Goals Template revolves around this and defines habits along SMART parameters, making them more actionable. This habit tracker is perfect for those eyeing long-term strategic goals.
Here’s why you’ll love it:
- Create SMART goals for every habit
- Track progress across every aspect of SMART goals
- Review and adjust goals to match changing priorities and progress
- Align habits with strategic, long-term goals so that your daily efforts contribute to bigger achievements
Ideal use case: Suitable for teams and individuals looking to set clear, actionable goals. Excellent for life coaches, project managers, and anybody focused on achieving SMART goals.
Pick Up Great Habits with ClickUp
Whether you do it daily, weekly, or for the entire month, habit tracking is the gateway to building consistency and achieving personal or professional goals.
We’ve shared a few habit tracker spreadsheet templates for you to use in Excel. However, the lack of flexibility and automation may come in the way of long-term success. After all, you must do this for at least 66 days!
In contrast, ClickUp makes things easier by making habit tracking dynamic, efficient, and engaging. Plus, you have an array of templates to choose from. Once you pick the right one and build the habit brick by brick, you’ll be even more motivated to continue this momentum!
Ready to become a new version of you?
Sign up for ClickUp today and kick-start this journey!