Practice Ledger: track a sankalpa, japa or daily practice on your own terms
Log malas, minutes or a simple “done” after you practise, pause a day without guilt, and see your total, days practised and when you will finish. No account: saved only on this device.
Key facts
- In seven studies, people shown a broken streak did less of the behaviour afterwards than people shown an intact one, even with the same past behaviour; the effect was weaker when the streak could be repaired.
Start your own ledger
The record here is an example. Set up your practice the way you keep it: malas, a count, minutes or simply done, for a number of days, toward a total, or ongoing. It is saved only in this browser.
ExampleMorning mantra · 11 malas a day for 40 days
23of 40 days
Day 23 of 40, 1 paused. It ends on Tue, Oct 27.
- Total
- 235 malas (25,380 repetitions)
- Pace, last 23 days
- 10.2 malas a day
A record kept on your terms. What counts, and what a missed day means, is for you, your teacher or your tradition to say. Terms
The example’s record
October 2026
- Usual amount
- Minimum
- Some
- Paused
Copy a summaryPlain text for a teacher or a group, with only what you pick
For a teacher, a friend or a group chat. It goes to your clipboard and nowhere else; pause notes are never in it.
Practice summary, Oct 4 to Oct 10 Sun, Oct 4: 11 malas Mon, Oct 5: 11 malas Tue, Oct 6: 1 mala Wed, Oct 7: 11 malas Thu, Oct 8: 11 malas Fri, Oct 9: 11 malas Sat, Oct 10: 11 malas Total: 235 malas (25,380 repetitions) Days practised: 23 of 40
How the ledger countsDays, pace, the finish date and your rule after a missed day
A day counts as practised when it reaches the minimum you set. A paused day is left out of every count, so it neither breaks nor lengthens anything you keep in a row.
Pace is your average a day over the last 30 days of this attempt, leaving out paused days, and up to today once you have practised today. The finish date divides what is left by that pace. A number of days kept in a row counts one day at a time; with “carry on”, the vow keeps its own dates, moved on by any paused days.
With “make it up later”, each day asks for the usual amount and anything above it pays back. With “start again”, the ledger asks after a missed day and restarts only if you say so; earlier attempts stay in the record.
The day ends at the hour you choose (midnight unless you change it), so a late-night round counts for the day you mean. Sources: Silverman & Barasch (2022) on broken streaks, Lally et al. (2010) on missed days, and WebKit’s storage policy (2020, 2023).
How this works: Method, 4 sources, Checked against 2 worked examples,
How this works
Method
It adds up what you log, nothing more. A day counts as practised when it reaches the minimum you set, and paused days are left out of every count. Pace is your average over the last 30 days with practice, and the finish date divides what is left by that pace (for a number of days kept in a row, one day at a time). The day ends at the hour you choose, and what happens after a missed day is your own rule: the ledger never decides.
Sources
- On or Off Track: How (Broken) Streaks Affect Consumer Decisions (Journal of Consumer Research, 2022)
- How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world (European Journal of Social Psychology, 2010)
- Full Third-Party Cookie Blocking and More (7-day cap on script-writable storage) (WebKit, 2020)
- Updates to Storage Policy (WebKit, 2023)
How it’s tested
2 worked examples for this page are checked by automated tests before every release: given the inputs, the tool must show the expected answer.
Limits
A record kept on your terms. What counts, and what a missed day means, is for you, your teacher or your tradition to say.
Changes
- First published: vows on your own terms, quick logging with undo, pauses, a month grid, totals, pace and a finish date, a printable monthly sheet and a summary to copy.
A ledger, not a counter
Counting beads is the easy part: a mala does it in your hand. What goes wrong is the record. A count kept in memory or on a phone app is lost when the app resets or the phone is replaced, and a vow kept with a streak counter seems to collapse the first time life gets in the way: a fever, a journey, a late night at work. Many people then wonder whether the whole sadhana is broken, feel guilty, and stop.
This ledger keeps the record and leaves the rulings to you. Log after you practise (+1 mala, a typed number, a ring counter’s reading), pause a day when you need to, and see the total, the days practised and when you are likely to finish. Each practice is set up the way you keep it, whether that is japa toward a large total, a 40-day sankalpa, or a daily sitting with a small minimum for the hard days.
On your terms
Traditions differ on what a vow asks and what to do when a day is missed, and many teachers say to practise as much as you can rather than all or nothing. So the ledger asks you instead of deciding: what counts as a day, the minimum on a hard day, and whether a missed day is carried on, made up later or the start of a fresh attempt. It holds no mantras, texts, symbols, calendars or tradition presets, and it never calls anything broken.
For a guided sitting, try the guided meditation or the yoga flows, or time it quietly with the timer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a sankalpa, and how does the ledger track one?
A sankalpa is a resolve or vow: for example, a mantra chanted 11 malas a day for 40 days, a total of 125,000 repetitions, or a daily sitting with no end date. Set it up in your own words (what you count, the shape of it, a minimum for hard days and what happens after a missed day), then log after each practice. The ledger shows the total, the days practised, your pace and when you are likely to finish.
What happens if I miss a day or have to stop for a while?
Pause the day, with a private note if you like. A paused day is left out of every count, so it never adds a miss. For a day you simply didn’t practise, your own rule applies: carry on, make it up later (the ledger keeps a quiet balance), or start again. Even then, the ledger only starts again when you press the button, and every earlier day stays in your record. It never calls a vow broken; that is for you, your teacher or your tradition to say.
Can I log malas I count on a physical mala or a ring counter?
Yes, that is what it is for. Tap +1 mala after each round, or type a number. For a ring counter, type its reading and choose “the day’s total” and “repetitions”: the ledger works out the malas from the beads in your mala (108 unless you change it).
I already have a count from before. Can I start from it?
Yes. Under “More options”, enter what you have already done and the day you started. The total and the finish date include it from the first day.
Is it private? Who can see my practice?
Only you, on this device. There is no account and nothing is uploaded. The name of a practice, the counts and the pause notes are never put in the page address, sent to analytics, included in feedback or offered for sharing. To keep a copy or move to a new phone, use Backup & sync; the summary to copy and the printed month are there for when you choose to show someone.
Why is there no streak or reminder?
Because a highlighted broken streak makes people do less afterwards: in seven studies, people shown a broken streak engaged less than people shown an intact one, even with the same past behaviour (Journal of Consumer Research, 2022). And a 12-week study of habit forming found that missing one day did not materially affect it (European Journal of Social Psychology, 2010). The ledger shows days practised and a run of days in a row only for vows you keep in a row. Reminders are left to you, so nothing nags.