Several friends interested in self-improvement highly recommended James Clear’s book Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits to me. A habit is a simple concept, with good habits desirable and bad habits challenging our self-control. Atoms are the fundamental building blocks of the universe: essentially everything. They all contain the same subatomic particles; however, how they are arranged makes a massive difference to the properties of an element. And with that, you have Atomic Habits, understanding that small changes make a big difference and recognising the powerful impact of compounding habits. This new-found knowledge motivated me to step up my habit game.

I love checklists and processes. Regular decisions or repeated tasks are converted to lists, which I define, refine and track. I have checklists for developing training plans, training delivery, client work, writing and for reviewing everything. Once I get used to doing something, it’s frictionless. I do it on autopilot. Clear explains if you have a desired goal, you need to determine the activities required to reach that goal, then track those activities. You’ll only achieve your goals if you complete those habits. Habit tracking apps can help you monitor and manage your habit uptake.

“I love checklists and processes. Regular decisions or repeated tasks are converted to lists, which I define, refine and track.”

Building better habits, one tap at a time

When assessing a digital tool for building and tracking good habits, I want something easy to set up, use, learn and edit, that’s accessible across platforms, shareable and secure. Bonus points if it’s appealing to the eye, allows for the attachment of visuals and allows you to create templates. I’ve realised the silly trophies, badges or confetti sprinkling across the screen bring me joy, so I also look for apps that include gamification to help me stay motivated.

Beyond paper and pen, the easiest place to start tracking habits is with spreadsheets and word processors, using the check-box option that can be checked or unchecked. Within Google Workspace, a check box can be added via Google Docs by clicking the checklist icon, and via Google Sheets from the menu bar, clicking Insert and Tick Box.

The Google Fit app that comes with my Android device monitors steps and heart points. When I wanted to increase my fitness it was the first place I turned to, to see my past performance and set new fitness goals. Inspired to step up my habit game, I installed and tested several habit tracking apps. The one I’ve had the most success with is HabitNow Daily Routine Planner, however there are dozens of apps to choose from.

On the HabitNow home screen all of today’s habits and tasks are listed, ready to be checked off. Habits and tasks can be created and edited via the menu bar, and that can be categorised and allocated a frequency and priority ranking.

Habits include detailed tracking and statistics.

There’s also a timer that includes a stopwatch, countdown and intervals. The app helps me with my general wellbeing, including tracking my vitamin intake, hydration and even how long I read every day.

As I write this article, I’ve opened up HabitNow. From the menu bar, I have clicked Timer > Countdown > 00:25:00 and pressed the start button. I’m starting a focused 25-minute work streak. When the timer rings, I take a short break and then repeat it all again three times, before taking a longer break.

There are a number of ways to achieve the same functionality as HabitNow. For example, I could also say: “Hey Google, set a timer for 25 minutes,” or I could use Google Tasks to manage tasks. I like HabitNow because it sits in isolation outside my work platform, so I can check it outside of office hours without worrying work will distract me and lure me in.

Several workflow management tools are built specifically for accounting practices, from GreatSoft to Karbon to XBert. Some of the habit tracking tools that have a more general application include Trello. Owned by Australian success story Atlassian, Trello tracks goals, tasks and projects. I’ve created visually stunning Kanban boards for managing client relationships. Within them I build lists, with cards that detail the steps. With a click-and-drag, they can be easily shuffled around, progress tracked and updated accordingly. Templates can be locked down by admin, which I recommend, as I, unfortunately, had an unlocked template jumbled by a new staff member.

Empower your clients with habit adoption

Clients can be so overwhelmed by fear of their finances that they don’t know where to start. Habit-building strategies might be something you can talk to your clients about. In fact, I did an informal poll of accountants and many give the Atomic Habits book to their clients!

Here are a few habits I encourage clients to adopt:

1. Use context triggers. I tell clients: “don’t start the car engine, until you’ve scanned that receipt”. The environment prompts the habit to scan the receipts which are then pushed into Xero.

2. Review your numbers regularly. I schedule a report creation and email notification in the reporting tool Fathom, which notifies clients when reports are ready to view. It gets clients in the habit of looking at their numbers, thinking about their numbers and talking to me about their numbers. This automated habit nourishes regular communication with clients, encouraging tighter performance tracking and informed decision-making.

3. Look for the patterns. I’ve spent a lot of time cleaning client data. I use detailed checklists to review work. The last quirky step was to look at the page with blurred eyes to see if any trends or anomalies required further investigation. The quality data verification tool XBert checks all transactions for common errors, replacing about 70 of the checks I used to do… although I still do the blurry eye check!

Boosting productivity through purposeful habit adoption

The purposeful adoption of habits improves my overall productivity. By identifying the routines I want to monitor, I’m in an informed position to track progress and make adjustments. It brings me great satisfaction to discover a hack that improves an existing routine or process, or makes them easier to adopt. By establishing processes and adopting desired habits I reduce my cognitive load, increase my mental capacity and move towards the goals I want to achieve.

From CA Library