Print out your own wallet sized habit trackers with this free template

The Habit tracking card template is available for free in our products section (click here).

This week we’re presenting a new tool for those who want to track their habits: a free PDF template to print out 10 mini habit tracker cards (business card / wallet sized). It is meant to be a pocket-sized version of the full-page template which was featured in our last blog post and which is also available for free in our products section.

These mini printable habit trackers are ideal for those who want to keep track of their habits while on the go (keep them in your wallet or in your pockets), who want to be more discreet about their habits or for those who want to quickly initiate friends, family or colleagues to habit tracking. 

How to use the template

Those new to habit tracking should first read the blog post which accompanied the release of our full-page 50 Day Habit Worksheet. That post features an introduction to the principles of habit tracking and included instructions for the full-page worksheet. The detailed instructions on how to use that worksheet apply, in essence, to these cards, with the obvious caveat that writing space is very limited on wallet sized cards.

The template can be filled out in a variety of ways:

• By hand: Simply print out blank copies of the template, cut out the cards and fill them out by hand.

• Electronically and by hand: Type in the form sections of each card electronically, print out the template, cut out the cards and then fill them out by hand.

• Only electronically: Only use the template digitally. Some people prefer to keep their habit tracking system entirely on their electronic devices. If used in this manner, the first page of the template provides a one-page “dashboard” of up to 10 simultaneous habits to track on each card (or fewer habits tracked over multiple cards), while the 2nd page offers space to write out more information and notes about each of those habits. It should be noted that the template also allows users to electronically cross out each of the 50 numbered squares (simply click on them). This makes it possible to cross out all 50 days entirely on your device and/or to quickly print out a card with some days already crossed off (say, for example, if you wanted to track a habit for less than 50 days).

Like the full-page version of this habit tracker, we recommend that this template be opened and edited in a dedicated pdf software such as Foxit (which is free and available for download here). Most dedicated pdf software, such as Foxit, automatically shrinks or grows the font of typed text so that it entirely fits within form boxes. This feature allows for more detailed information to be typed into the limited space available on these cards.

There is a number on the top left corner on each side of the cards. Each card is numbered from 1 to 10, with numbers 1-5 in green and 6-10 in orange. These two-colour groups are meant to help remind you that the back side (page 2) of each template flips horizontally when printing double-sided sheets; i.e., the cards that are on the left column on page 1 have their back on the right column on page 2 (so the green numbered cards are on the left column on the front and on the right column on the back). These 10 numbers can also be used in many other ways. For example, they can be useful to identify cards used a chronological sequence to track a single habit over multiple 50-day periods.

Printing instructions

Each card is the size of a standard North-American business card (89mm x 51mm) (3.5" x 2").

The template is meant to be printed full-size on standard US letter size paper. The template also fits on A4 paper, though slight scale adjustments may be necessary to get the cards to print out exactly the size of business cards.

Adjust your printer settings as follows:

• Print double sided (“print on both sides of paper”) and flip on long edge.

• Portrait orientation.

• There are some color elements on the cards but they are not essential; the cards will work just the same if printed in black and white.

• Do not adjust the scale if you are printing on standard US letter paper. If you decrease the scale of the page (“fit to printer margins”) the cards will be slightly smaller than standard business cards.

• If you are printing on A4 paper: you may need to adjust the scale by a few percentage points to get the cards to the right size.