How many commitments should I track at once?

2–4 is the research-backed sweet spot. James Clear cites evidence that habit stacking works best with a small number of cues. More than 5 commitments tends to produce tracking without genuine accountability — you start checking boxes rather than changing behavior.

What's the difference between a commitment and a habit?

A habit is an automatic behavior triggered by a cue — it happens without deliberate decision-making. A commitment is a deliberate daily choice that you're working to make automatic. Commitment tracking is the bridge between intention and habit — the practice you use while the habit is still forming.

Should I track weekend commitments separately?

Many knowledge workers use different commitment sets for weekdays and weekends. Work-related commitments (daily outcome review, morning deep work) can be weekday-only. Personal commitments (exercise, reading) may apply every day. Separating them reduces false positives in your streak data.

Does breaking a commitment streak matter?

The streak number itself matters less than the honest record. A broken streak that's acknowledged and analyzed is more valuable than a streak maintained through self-deception. What matters is the behavior behind the streak, not the count.

Commitment tracking: the daily accountability practice that builds real habits

Commitment tracking is the practice of making explicit daily promises and honestly recording whether you kept them. Learn how it differs from habit tracking and why it works.

What is commitment tracking?

Commitment tracking is the practice of explicitly naming recurring behavioral promises, checking them daily, and honestly recording whether each was kept or broken. Unlike traditional habit trackers that count repetitions or measure streaks for motivational purposes, commitment tracking treats each day as an accountability checkpoint — a moment of honest self-assessment rather than a gamified reward. The commitments themselves are self-defined: exercise before work, no email in the first hour of the day, close the laptop by 7pm, write for 20 minutes. The practice works because naming a commitment publicly (even just to yourself) significantly increases follow-through compared to vague intentions.

Why commitment tracking beats goal setting

Goals are outcomes: 'run a half-marathon in October,' 'write a novel by year-end,' 'grow revenue by 30%.' Goals are useful for direction but poor for daily accountability because they can always be deferred until tomorrow. Commitments are behaviors: 'run for 30 minutes on workdays,' 'write 500 words before opening email,' 'review pipeline for 15 minutes each morning.' You can't defer a behavioral commitment — today either happened or it didn't. The daily binary (kept/broke) creates accountability at the smallest useful time scale, which compounds into significant behavior change over months. Goals and commitments work together: goals set direction, commitments create the daily behaviors that get you there.

The right commitments to track

The most effective commitments are behavioral (observable), daily (applicable every workday), and connected to a current priority. 'Write 500 words daily' beats 'be more creative.' 'Review my task list before opening Slack' beats 'be more intentional with communication.' 'Complete one deep work session before 10am' beats 'do more deep work.' The last quality — connection to a current priority — is what prevents commitment lists from becoming generic self-improvement laundry lists. Commitments that serve your current most important project or goal are much more likely to be kept than commitments that are virtuous in the abstract but disconnected from what you actually care about this week.

What to do when a commitment is consistently broken

A commitment that's broken more than 40% of the time over two weeks should be redesigned, not abandoned. There are three typical failure modes: the commitment is too vague to evaluate, the environmental prerequisites aren't in place, or the motivation behind the commitment doesn't match the actual cost. 'Exercise daily' fails because 'exercise' is undefined and the bar shifts based on energy. '30-minute walk before starting work' succeeds because it's binary and fixed. If a commitment is well-defined and still being broken, the prerequisite conditions might be missing — the walk won't happen if you're logging in before getting dressed. Redesign the commitment to include its enabling conditions.

Frequently asked questions