Shadowing Practice: How to Create Your Own HABIT TRACKER | Step-by-Step Tutorial for Beginners | Google Sheets - Learn English Speaking with Video

Hi and welcome to this tutorial.

I will show you how to create a habit tracker spreadsheet for free

and how it is very easy to create this kind of digital product.

This product is already available in our shop with even more features and the link is in the description box.

Let me show you how I developed the main sections of this habit tracker with Google sheets.

It's a relatively simple spreadsheet to create with many checkboxes

and I will show you step by step how to create this exact product.

The first step of this tutorial is to change the colors of the spreadsheet.

So for this we need to change the theme.

The theme allows you to change the colors automatically for the entire spreadsheet with a single click.

To do this you must click on format then theme

and then customize then from this moment you will be able to change the six main colors of this spreadsheet

which will define the the overall theme

so you simply click on the accent one color the little dot

and then enter the x code or the rjb code of the color that you want

you can also use the color picker if necessary So now that the six colors of the spreadsheet are defined,

we will be able to click on Done, then on the X at the top right to close the ribbon.

We can now start creating our spreadsheet.

The first thing that I like to do is often set a standard height for the rows

and also set standard fonts and center everything.

These are not necessarily essential steps, but I personally find them very important.

Next, given that it is a file with a lot of checkboxes,

it is good to separate our columns relatively narrowly to be able to have checkboxes close to each other.

So I set the size of my columns to 32 pixels.

When we create a new spreadsheet on Google Sheets, the number of columns is always limited to 26 from A to Z.

In our case, we are going to need a little bit more columns so I'm going to add some right away.

I added 75 new columns to make sure that I have enough space to work.

Perfect now I am all set up to create my spreadsheet.

So let's start with the title at the top left.

So I need to merge several cells together and enter the title of our spreadsheet which is in our case habit tracker.

I do the same thing with the lines below to indicate the month.

You can always change the formatting of the title, the colors and the gridlines.

Our habit tracker is a monthly spreadsheet so you must select a year and a month.

So let's create a monthly selection possibility.

Let's call this calendar settings with the ability to type in a year and select a month.

For the month, you must create a drop down menu with the 12 months of the year.

The months are therefore defined on the side of the spreadsheet and then the top down is defined.

Let's add a little bit of colors and grid lines to have a more beautiful spreadsheet.

Then we can easily create an area to define our habits per day

and per week with 31 columns for the 31 days of each month

which is also the equivalent of four weeks and 3 days.

Then we can define the days of the month.

For the moment, let's just define them from 1 to 31.

We will see later how to adjust the month from months with 30 days to months with 31 days

or 29 days like February.

We can now define the structure of our habit table.

Let's define 25 habits in this example.

Then we can insert our checkboxes, which is the central element of this spreadsheet.

On Google Sheets, checkboxes are really user-friendly.

So once added, they can easily be ticked or unticked.

Now, let's change our dates.

We know the month and the year, but also the day since it is the first day of the month.

So I use the date formula and add the year as a parameter, then the month.

The month must be a number, so the number 3 must be in the formula instead of March, for example.

So I use the VLOOKUP formula to find the number 3 in the table at the top right.

and finally the number 1 since it is the first day of the month.

I just have to add the numbers so that the VLOOKUP formula returns the correct number.

Finally, we can now change the date format to have only a number and not the full date.

We therefore click on Format, then Number, Custom Date and Time, and choose the display of a single number.

The result seems to be the same, but in reality it is March 1st, 2024 and not a simple digit number 1.

For the second, we could simply add 1 to the first and drag right to auto-populate the other days.

If I change the month for February, for example, as you can see, day 30th and 31st become the first and the second,

because in reality it is the first and the second of March.

But we don't want these dates to appear, so we have to add a condition if the month is different with the formula IF.

And now, these days are blank.

Now, for a better visual, we can add exactly the same thing, but by displaying the first three letters of the day of the week,

by clicking on format, number, custom date, and time, and choosing days as abbreviation.

Perfect!

Let's shape this up a little bit with colors and gridlines.

The gray gridline prevents us from seeing our spreadsheet clearly, so let's simply hide them by clicking on view, show, and gridlines.

In order to make our spreadsheet more realistic, I will add some examples and goals.

I will now create a summary table on the right side with the number of habits completed

and the number of habits left to do or to achieve our goals.

The text will look better when tilted.

For the number of habits completed, we simply want to count the number of checkboxes that are ticked.

We then use the countif function.

In parameters, we indicate the range in which we want to count as well as our condition.

Here it is true.

So as you can see in our example, we have four tick checkboxes, just like in a table.

I can now drag my formula down.

For aesthetic reasons, we'll add another condition so that a number only appears when a habit is present.

Now I drag down my formula and as you can see, there is nothing if there are no habits on the left hand side of the table.

Then, we can use the same condition IF for the number of habits left to do or to achieve.

But it is simply the difference between the number of habits completed and the number of goals to be achieved.

Let's calculate the progress of each task using the same formula, but this time as a division.

We'll then convert the result into a percentage to reflect the true progress of each task.

This formula reveals an issue when there's no goal or if the goal is set to zero.

In this case, the division cannot be done.

It is therefore necessary to add another condition with the if error formula.

We can now extend the formula further and this problem is now fixed.

Now let's Let's try to visualize our progress a little better.

For this, we can use the Sparkline function.

This function is not necessarily easy to use since it uses specific properties such as chart type, max, min, or even color.

But it adds a very good visual aspect to this spreadsheet.

The function works well, but we still have an issue when there are no habits on the left side.

Additionally, the orange color is a bit too bright,

so we can adjust that. And that's it.

Let's add some grid lines and background in gray to better visualize this small table.

Let's now calculate the general progress of all our tasks with a small calculation on this side,

100

which allows us to calculate the number of completed tasks, the number of remaining tasks, as well as the overall number of goals.

101

This now allows me to calculate the overall progress as well as create a global sparkline for our spreadsheet.

102

And the habit table and its small summary table on the right are now completed.

103

Let's add a few rows to create our charts.

104

The chart area header will be identical to the one we've already developed below, so a simple copy and paste will suffice.

105

We'll also add a row for completed habits, goals, and what's left to do.

106

The formula is exactly the same as for the right part to calculate the progress, so it is the count-if formula.

107

Perfect, it works.

108

We can extend the formula.

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Once again, to avoid having a number that appears when the date does not exist, we can use the if function with the empty condition.

110

Good.

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We can do the same thing with the goals, and this time we use the star condition, which allows us to define if a cell is not empty.

112

Be careful to lock the cells with the dollar signs.

113

Now, for the left section, it's exactly the same thing.

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we use the if function and then a simple subtraction between the completed and goals.

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And there you go, you have it.

116

We can then define our weekly progress.

117

Let's add some grid lines to all of these to format the table.

118

In order to have a good view of the number of

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habits completed in relation to the number of goals during the week, we can use the concatenate function,

120

which allows you to put strings of text end-to-end.

121

We then have a nice and visual element to easily see our progress.

122

Then we can do exactly the same division in order to calculate our progress as a percentage.

123

And finally, for the last row, we can add a sparkline to better represent our progress.

124

And there you have it.

125

You just have to copy and paste from week to week.

126

Be careful for the last week since there are only three days.

127

Oops, I realized I forgot to add a little detail in the header right below Habit Tracker.

128

This formula simply mentioned the month that we selected, so in our example February.

129

Now let's add a bar shaped sparkline to make our progress even more visible.

130

This time the first parameter is the seven days of the week and the graph is a bar chart.

131

Let's simply use again the sparkline formula and don't forget to change some important parameters to match with each week.

132

Some adjustments are necessary like adding the maximum, which is our goal in this example, as well as the color.

133

A simple copy and paste of the formula and our sparklines can be added for the following weeks.

134

And then we just have to change the color.

135

In the fifth week, we've encountered an issue where only one sparkline is appearing, but we need three.

136

So we simply need to add intermediate calculations below the table, which will be hidden later.

137

Don't forget to change the colors in the spark lines below for each week to match the colors defined in our headers.

138

And here you go, our overview table is now finished.

139

So as you can see here, we have some white spaces left in which we can add some graphs or charts.

140

First, let's add a chart to the top of our page.

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So we need to calculate the percentage of progression for each day.

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Once we've done this for all the days of the month, we can adjust a few parameters to enhance the graph's clarity and add some visual elements.

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Finally, we'll place the chart in the correct position.

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A small adjustment is necessary to the formula in order to have the data in the right place.

145

Perfect, little test.

146

It seems like everything works.

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So we have two spaces remaining at the upper right corner

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let's try to add a donut chart there first with the

149

overall progress the graph ends up being a bit small so consider slightly increase the column width

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now in the remaining space let's add the top 10 most consistently followed habits

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and we need a little bit of formatting let's create our table

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and format it a little bit so we simply need to sort our habits from the highest percentage to the lowest.

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We can easily sort our habits using the sort function

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which allows us to sort them from largest to smallest or from smallest to largest.

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Here some adjustments are necessary since the empty cells interfere.

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It is necessary to create an intermediate calculation in order to add zeros in the empty cells.

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As we can see in my example, When the habit called running is ticked, its percentage increases and it goes above the habit called meditation.

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Next, use the VLOOKUP function to find the correct percentage for each habit.

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Be sure to lock the table where we're referring with dollar signs to ensure the habits and percentages stay accurate.

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Now our habits are properly sorted from largest to smallest.

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Now we simply have to display them in our visual table.

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We put our numbers back in the right place.

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We can merge ourselves and then use the if function at the same time as the concatenate function.

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Be careful here, as we can see, despite the fact that these are percentages, the concatenate function converts our percentages into text.

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So we must add the text function with the percentage format.

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Now let's hide our intermediate calculations for a cleaner and more beautiful spreadsheet look.

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And let's add a small addition to the overview table with overall progress.

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Here it is simply a matter of adjusting the formulas we've already used.

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And here our spreadsheet is now finished.

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Simply rename the tab as well as the spreadsheet and everything is done.

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Thank you for following us.

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Don't hesitate to like, comment or subscribe if if you like our videos.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 172 sentences and 2410 words to shadow. The speech runs for 15:42. The speaker talks at a natural 153 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

habit /ˈhæb.ɪt/ (noun) — An action performed on a regular basis.
formula /ˈfɔː.mjʊ.lə/ (noun) — Any mathematical rule expressed symbolically.
define /dɪˈfaɪn/ (verb) — To determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly.
percentage /pə(ɹ)ˈsɛntɪd͡ʒ/ (noun) — The amount, number or rate of something, regarded as part of a total of 100; a part of a whole.
format /ˈfɔːɹ.mæt/ (noun) — The layout of a publication or document.
chart /t͡ʃɑɹt/ (noun) — A map illustrating the geography of a specific phenomenon.
calculate /ˈkælkjʊleɪt/ (verb) — To determine the value of something or the solution to something by a mathematical process.
columns /ˈkɑləmz/ (noun) — pattern which involves throwing props in the air alternately.
tracker /ˈtɹækə(ɹ)/ (noun) — A person employed to follow and monitor a political rival.
parameter /pəˈɹæm.ə.tɚ/ (noun) — A value kept constant during an experiment, equation, calculation, or similar, but varied over other versions of the experiment, equation, calculation, etc.
adjust /əˈd͡ʒʌst/ (verb) — To modify.
tick /tɪk/ (noun) — A tiny woodland arachnid of the suborder Ixodida.
calculation /ˌkælkjuˈleɪʃn̩/ (noun) — The act or process of calculating.
select /sɪˈlɛkt/ (verb) — To choose one or more elements of a set, especially a set of options.
dragon /ˈdɹæɡən/ (noun) — In European mythologies, a gigantic beast, typically reptilian with leathery bat-like wings, lion-like claws, scaly skin and a lizard-like body, often a…

Phrasal verbs you will hear

see in (verb) — To show (someone) in: to introduce (someone) to the inside of a place.
back in (verb) — To reverse a vehicle into a space.
drag down (verb) — To cause (other people or another person) to suffer the same fate, or to feel the same negative mood.
drop down (verb) — To sail, move, or row down a coast, or down a river to the sea.
end up (verb) — To bring to a conclusion.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 14 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, we'll, we've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: aesthetic /ɛsˈθɛ.tɪk/, width /ˈwɪtθ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: calculation /ˌkælkjuˈleɪʃn̩/, sheet /ʃit/, relation /ɹɪˈleɪʃ(ə)n/, meditation /mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/, progression /pɹəˈɡɹɛʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: parameter /pəˈɹæm.ə.tɚ/, intermediate /ɪn.tə(ɹ)ˈmi.di.ət/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, consistently /kənˈsɪstəntli/, automobile /ˈɔː.tə.məˌbil/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like habit, formula, define.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	are defined · is often set · is always limited
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	spreadsheet which is · checkboxes, which is · maximum, which is
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	we've already developed · we've encountered · we've done

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

Grammar in this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?