Achieving your goals with Habit Tracking

"Be delusional, visualize the goal, reverse engineer it & take action" - Story of my life

Ever heard of vision boards? Well, assuming you said yes, if you can visualize your end goal and dream it, the good news is there is an alternate reality where that dream goal is already yours. This is how one begins to manifest. However, if you think sticking some images on a blank canvas and hoping for the best is how they work, you're poorly mistaken. Visualizing the end game is only one step in the right direction. Dreams and vision boards without action are futile. To make your manifestations come true, you need to ask yourself, “Who do I need to show up as every day to become the dream version of myself?” and then show up as that person every single day.

This is where Habit Tracking comes in. Habit Tracking is basically using a score sheet you use to motivate yourself to hit your daily goals, consistently. Everything I have achieved in the last 3 years has been attributed to habit tracking.

A little back story on how I started using habit trackers.

In the June of 2021, I was hanging out with some friends and camping on a weekend during the pandemic...which may or may not have been illegal at the time.

I rented out this huge private estate that had a cottage perched on a lush green rolling hill overlooking the ocean, a waterfall and river running through the property and access to the beach from the property. Going to the beach was prohibited during this time, but what about a beach that was so secluded attached to an Airbnb with private access where you know for sure no police officer could catch you? (Disclaimer I am not confessing to committing a crime, for the context of this story I never touched the beach)

However, I needed content to feed to my social media & my Onlyfans, and to keep my adventurous and outdoor brand alive I did what I had to do. Was renting a private estate worth it? Hell yes, I footed the entire bill alone and it cost me 300 USD/ 2000 TTD for a weekend and I made a single 15 seconds video dancing in a bikini inside the cottage which was priced at $15 and sold at least 200 times over the years...so it made at least 3000 USD/21000 TTD over time. In the following pictures I'm keeping an engaged core and dancing, these are screenshots of a video.

However, the point of this story is that when I initially donned that bikini, which was XS when I was in fact a medium, a girlfriend remarked, "Wow Vanita, you really put on some healthy weight." That was the first time I ever donned a bikini and someone remarked that out of the blue, when I was least expecting it- the exact moment I whipped out the phone to take a selfie. I immediately became defensive, as my bikini was tight. She was right though, I was 15 pounds overweight, and I had been sucking in my tummy and relying on angles for too long. At 26 years old, my luck and reliance on genetics was starting to run out. I had lost touch of my fitness as I had been going through an emotional trauma, making me search for dopamine in bad habits. Mind you, I was in the top 0.52% of creators on Onlyfans at this point in time, earning a lottttttt per month. But this workflow where I was running myself into the ground creating content and posing and sucking in when I didn't even truly feel sexy myself, was not sustainable, as my body would past peak very soon due to the weight I was packing on. I couldn't pretend anymore.

I felt so self conscious that day. Here's what I posted on Instagram:

But, here are pictures of what I actually looked like that day, the ones which didn't make the cut for social media.

I couldn't believe this is what I looked like relaxed!

Literally feeling ashamed, sucking in and looking away from the camera.

Luckily for me, she didn't just leave me with that comment. She also told me what she did to lose weight, which was yoga (sometimes twice a day), lots of breathing, and conscious, mindful eating. The problem is, you tell an overweight person this and they feel defeated right away because losing weight is suchhhhhh a journey. Often, when you want to achieve a long term goal, it requires

visualizing the end goal/beginning with the end in mind, and then reverse engineering how to get there by then designing habits to accomplish this goal.

In this case, the goal would be to go from 130 lbs to 114/115lbs -my ideal photoshoot weight. How do I get back there? Is it even possible after you pass your mid-twenties? This was the way I thought back then.

Well, the friend said exercise and hit yoga once a day minimum, and it would be a couple of months at least until I get results. Desperate to have a marker of showing up and keep myself from getting discouraged, I got a blank sheet of paper and drew up some lines, marking out the days of the week in table form until I had a month.

Samantha Schwarts, the first creative director who ever scouted me for a modeling gig for Wonderful World back in 2017, saw what I was trying to do and having already designed a few habit trackers herself, sent me a personalized one to try out. It was so cute, it was customized with French details and had an Eiffel tower bookmark to remind me of the time I lived in France. This was a hugeeeee upgrade and I really enjoyed this structure. I used it for a couple of months before then deciding to commit to a big girl Habit tracker.

After a few months, I felt I was ready for one which could handle more habits; one that would last me all year long.

So, I found the Lamare Habit tracker on Amazon for roughly $17-$20; The price fluctuates sometimes. Click the blue text and it should take you there directly.

Oh, and I did lose the weight. I bought a scale 6 weeks after I started habit tracking, so I had already lost 9 pounds. Here's proof of part of that journey.

And here's what I looked like when I got to my optimum weight again (Before November 2021), and believe me, I take great pride in looking like my photos in real, so there is a strict "Keep shooting me until I like the body shape I see as it is." I like my body a lot as it is naturally and when I look back at my life's work I don't want to question what I really looked like. I want to know for sure, that this is what I actually looked like. Many photographers I have worked with told me I don't need my body to be edited, either. It would ruin the whole experience for me, to be honest.

August 9th 2021

August 9th 2021

Now, even though I started habit tracking to lose weight, I also experienced some other benefits by default. My relationship with money drastically improved, and I bought a condo at the mere age of 26 years old. Coming from humble beginnings, you have no idea how surreal this was. I looked around and no one in my circle was making moves like this. I felt like such an alien lol.

I later on flipped it & snipped the profit for other investments (because I was all in when I broke my leg playing an Influencer charity soccer game and didn't have a concept of having medical insurance to pay for my surgery at the time so it was out of pocket, but that's a whole other story, and yes I'm insured now)

September 15th 2021. At a staycation the morning after I bought a condo, at 26 years old. One of the proudest moments of my life.

This video was taken September 28th 2021, 90 days after I started habit tracking. I like to use videos so one can see that it's clearly not edited.

I still to this day have this habit tracker. I am on my third one. I have also bought 3 of them for friends because it was proving to be effective for me. For the first two years I used it almost every single month, but the third year I fell off due to 6 months of high value production that had me on a plane twice a month for the last 6 months, shooting and handling a team of 12 on a daily basis while running all my social media myself. There was no room for a regular schedule for me there unfortunately. I did what I could when I could. However, having had 2.5 years on a habit tracker did engrain certain habits in me which never left me, even when I wasn't recording, and that's the whole point of a habit tracker. I didn't stray a whole lot when I wasn't actively using it.

In this same breath, I can also appreciate that it is the end of my journey with this particular habit tracker for me. After staring at it for 2.5 years, I find that I am not stimulated anymore with its design; it is not colorful, the quotes don't resonate with me anymore, and even though I can be quite militant like in nature when it comes to grit and just doing what needs to be done, I personally would prefer something which feels exciting, refreshing and which has my favorite life quotes in it. I couldn't find one to suit my needs, so I designed one for myself and will print as needed. There is absolutely no pressure to purchase it, however while writing this blog it dawned upon me that while you can purchase the one I linked to Amazon for $17-$20 and wait for it to be shipped to you wherever you are in the world, you can also test drive the mere concept of habit tracking for only $10, and start your habit tracking journey right away, now. The option is here for you if you need it, just click the button below.

Habit Tracker by Vanita95

You use a habit tracker to program yourself basically, until you become the changes you wish to see in yourself.

You want clear skin? Make skin care an item on your habit tracker.

You want to lose weight? Make exercise an item on your habit tracker.

You want to read 10 new books in 2025? Make 20 mins of reading an item on your habit tracker.

You want to dress up more in 2025? Make "Put on make up" an item on your habit tracker.

There are also weekly goals and monthly goals.

You want to be a hot girl in 2025? Put beauty appointments like nails and massages as monthly goals on your tracker. Why should the habit tracker not contain treats and reward systems too?

Now, please keep in mind that baby steps matter, and my first few months on a habit tracker there were barely days where I hit all of my goals. It is important to understand how to set realistic goals, and how to adjust your expectations. Obviously you're not going to immediately start waking up at 5am and going for a 10 mile sprint right away. But you can actually see yourself inching towards that goal over time with a habit tracker and that's very satisfying.

A general rule of thumb, if you cannot hit all your goals daily, then good, you've made it challenging enough for yourself. If you can barely hit your goals, it means you've set your goals too high, you need to make it attainable at least. If you hit all of your habit goals daily easily, then you can challenge yourself by making it harder or tagging a new habit in.

Tip for whenever you get discouraged, which does happen as you're only human : Personally, I see months as 4 quarters in many ways. I do menstrual tracking and I also view things logistically in quarters. Sometimes during a particular month I would have a bad first week or second week and most people would write off the entire month as a bad month or waste month, but for me, I take it in quarters. "Okay bad Q1, let's see how hard I can hit Q2". Viewing weeks in quarters allows me to regroup, recenter and strike again with all I have for the next week. Energetically I am able to pace myself and remind myself that there is still plenty of time to hit my goals and a bad week does not mean a bad month.

If you're wanting to try habit trackers out and you don't know where to start, I'll list out some of my daily, weekly and monthly goals over the years and maybe this will give you an idea.

Daily:

1. Wake up early to hit the 5AM CLUB (5am-6am)

2. Exercise/move/get 10,000 steps. I joined the gym two months ago and did 30 days consecutively. In my second month, I missed 5 days at the gym total.

3. Dress up (this entails putting on a make up beat, some jewelry and a nice outfit and happens a couple times a week for me but it's still something I am working on doing daily)

4. Read for 20 minutes daily

5. Journal (sometimes I miss a month at a time but I love whenever I have a month were I can do it daily, daily is my aspiration, and sometimes I achieve it)

6. Create content (believe it or not, there is so much that goes on behind the scenes of being a content creator that sometimes I actually forget to take content itself)

7. Post on social media (I also forget sometimes)

8. Onlyfans chats (daily, non negotiable). I have seen that when I do daily chats and give sales my full force, I hit 6 figure months. But when I don't, I see an immediate dip in revenue. The habit tracker is what makes the difference for me. I can see a direct correlation.

9. Skin care (because I want to age well, duh!)

10. Relax. Resting is so important and also gives good rewards, so it's important to carve out moments to relax. It may not happen every day because I am addicted to chaos at times, it's just where I cruise, but I do remember to relax when I see it on my habit tracker. If I want to steer the ship, I must be well rested and come from a level headed way of thinking.

Weekly:

1. Grocery- yes I forget to go sometimes

2. Laundry- it piles up so fast

3. Housekeeping- I do have help whether I'm in Trinidad or The Bahamas or Thailand, I need a professional to help me reset the house ever so often (once a week or every two weeks). Between a medical doctor and an Onlyfans creator, it's just not fair to either of us to sacrifice highest dollar per minute activities to clean a house. I'd rather spend the time cleaning on a beach taking a selfie that can pay for the housekeeper. It doesn't work exactly like that but you get the point. I don't think I'm too good for house chores, I moved out when I was 18 and lived alone ever since, on my own, completely responsible for myself financially. I just know that I need help. But just because you have help, doesn't mean that you are completely relieved of duties. Managing a housekeeper is also a task. I still have to access the home and make a list of things that need to get done which vary every week; things which are on a monthly cycle (like repacking the pantry, getting under the couch, etc), and communicate this each week along with scheduling. You also have to monitor the quality of work your housekeeper is doing because if you don't pay attention, the chores begin to get sloppy or short cuts are taken. Only those who have had housekeepers long term and reading this will understand.

4. Water Plants- This was when I had plants in Trinidad. How I loved them. I was so terrified of any of them dying, I had to have it in my habit tracker. All of my plant babies are with beloved friends now.

5. Beauty maintenance: this includes doing my own eyebrows, getting waxed, derma-planing, etc. To be exact, I lightly pluck my eyebrows every 4-6 days. I wash my hair once a week. I oil my hair as much as I remember (2 times per month). I dermaplane 3 times a month. I get waxed every 2 weeks- arms & bikini line. I shave my legs once a month (I'm not that hairy). Lots of people always say it must be so nice to be so good looking. Ummmm hello? It's all in the beauty regimen. I don't wait for things to get bad before I take care of myself now. It's all in a natural rhythm now. But before, I had to see that shit in my habit tracker. I literally programmed myself to be a hot girl.

Monthly:

1. Nails - for years this was a non-negotiable. As I type this it is the first time in 3 years I have bare nails and this is because I want to do more writing and I type faster bare. But in general, for my personal brand especially being one of the biggest Onlyfans creators in my country, I have a very strict protocol about my nails and that's for a reason. If you're interested in my nails psychology in regards to personal branding and being a CEO, let me know in the comments section, and I will explain my logic.

2. Haircut/dusting/trimming- My hair is 100% natural, healthy, long and thick. I don't wear extensions on a day to day basis. I have never had a single grey hair yet and I'm almost 30. I take immaculate care of my hair and for this reason every month I must pay attention to it. I have the ends trimmed as much as possible to keep split ends under control, and when I am not around someone I trust to cut my hair, I do hair dusting myself. I bought a pair of hairdressing scissors and I spend hours on it. When your hair is this long and of this quality, the maintenance game is next level. Also, hair can be quite easy to forget about, especially when you have a busy schedule. Sometimes I need to see a visual reminder to pay attention to this stuff.

3. Finances- Before I hired an accountant, for years I recorded every single dollar I spent and I also kept every single receipt and logged it monthly. I looked at all my bank accounts and planned accordingly. Now, the level of my operations are too much for me to keep track of, so I let my accountant and my assistant handle this and this task has now been batched and moved to a bi-yearly process. I still keep tabs monthly though. I keep awareness of general figures, at least.

4. Shopping- If you're anything like me, shopping for literally anything is a task. I have my assistant, my partner, my director and my relatives shop for me wherever possible. But, I wanted to start smelling the roses and I kept "shopping" in my habit tracker to remind me to do so at least once a month. I opt out on some months because I am genuinely content, but it is a nice reminder to reward myself, and that I deserve nice things.

5. Travel- this one may or may not be for you. But in my journey, I am a digital nomad. It is important for me to have travel plans on the horizon. I did travel once a month every month for the past couple of years, and I am on a journey to complete 30 countries before my 30th birthday next year - 14th February 2025. I have my own unique circuit in the world as well, recently it's very much bouncing around the Caribbean.

6. Therapy- this could be a weekly or bi-weekly or even a monthly thing. I started therapy 2 years ago almost and I recently had my 50th session a couple of weeks ago. Before you judge therapy, allow me to explain briefly how much therapy has changed my life. I initially joined because I was rock bottom, as we all are when we start therapy, but over the last 2 years I have used therapy as such a tool of empowerment. I started for help with my fears and nightmares which kept recurring as remnants from when I was SA'ed at gunpoint 4.5 years ago... I haven't had a single nightmare in over 6 months so I'm happy about that. We opened up my background and built a history context, then we moved onto each relationship I had in my life, and I used it to help me find comfort in my isolated nature and sink more into my introverted side, and really be okay rocking alone and not filling my life with meaningless activities and connections. Therapy helped me speak up more and enforce more solid boundaries. I used therapy to help me prevent self sabotaging my current relationship and to accept the love I deserve. I also use it to talk about my business moves, my triumphs, my failures, my emotions as a CEO, my fears, my ability to dream big...and honestly, sometimes you just need to talk and take up space for an hour without having to reciprocate listening or feeling bad for taking up too much space. My therapist holds me accountable, and reminds me of things I don't even remember when I bring up certain points. Sometimes, I need therapy because I simple need someone to listen to all I have going on and say, "Good job." It does feel good knowing there is someone out there who knows the full extent of what I have going on, and who helps me appreciate my journey in carving my own unique path. Sometimes I feel so good after a session, like I just emptied everything from my chest. My therapist told me I can stop my sessions once my goals were achieved, but I decided it on being lifelong because it helps me find my center every month.

   
   

I quite literally read you guys all of the habits in my current habit tracker, so now you literally have my formula, and I've listed every resource out for you so far. What are you waiting for? Your new life is calling! Best wishes for 2025, and good luck!