Making Word-Count Tracking a Source of Motivation: Goals and Recording Habits

Why tracking helps, and why it's risky

Recording your daily output makes vague progress visible. "I feel like I haven't written much lately" and "I actually wrote 40% less than last week" are completely different pieces of information. Numbers reduce the distortion that feelings create.

On the other hand, tracking can become too much pressure. If you start comparing yourself with others or feel compelled to raise the number every day, you end up clinging to quantity over quality. This article covers how to use tracking productively while reducing the pressure.

What to track: four measures

If you record only quantity, days spent revising or researching show up as "0" and feel empty. Adding a time measure lets you see accomplishment even on revision days.

• Quantity: the number of characters written that day (cuts or pages for webtoons). The most basic measure
• Time: how long you actually focused (number of Pomodoro sets). If time added up even when quantity is low, you did work
• Streak days: how many days in a row you worked. A sign that a habit is forming
• Progress per work: how far you are relative to the whole plan. The most important measure for staying motivated in a long serial

Set goals in two levels

If you have only one goal, a day you miss it becomes a failure. Splitting it into two levels lightens the load. Set the minimum goal at a level you can reach even on your worst day, and the challenge goal at the level of a good day. Make a rule that meeting only the minimum goal counts as a success for that day.

How to read the graph

Don't swing with the ups and downs of a single day. Look at weekly averages. A day's output changes a lot with the day of the week, your condition and your schedule, but over a week the trend shows.

1. Compare weekly totals over about four weeks to see whether the trend is rising or falling.
2. For a week when output dropped sharply, look at what happened along with your notes (a deadline, a move, a cold, etc.).
3. Work out the average by day of the week to find the days you write well and the days you don't.
4. Find what days where your streak broke have in common, and prepare for those obstacles in advance.

How to record: the least annoying way

For a tracking habit to last, it must not be a hassle. Pick one tool you can enter into right after you finish working. If you record in several places, one is likely to get missed. A paper notebook, a spreadsheet or a service all work. If entering takes more than ten seconds, cut down the measures.

If you use an environment like an online studio where your writing tools and records are in one place, you can leave your numbers right after focusing, so you skip recording less often.

When comparison gets hard

• When you see someone else's numbers, remember you don't know what kind of work they did (a draft or a revision) or what their situation is
• Change your standard of comparison to "me yesterday" or "me last month"
• If rankings become stressful, you can stop looking at them for a while. Records are just a tool for you
• If there are days you didn't record, leave them blank and move on. Don't try to fill in days that have passed

Look back at the numbers once a month

At the end of the month, write down the month's total, the average, your longest streak, and the day you wrote the most and why. If you also write "the best decision I made this month," your records become learning material rather than self-judgment. Records built up this way are the most reliable basis when you change your publishing schedule or plan a new work.