Your Position: Understanding Your Ranking and Team Performance

The Your Position card in Cohorty's Insights Dashboard shows you exactly where you stand in your challenge. It provides ranking information, completion percentages, and a full leaderboard to help you understand your performance relative to your team.

What is Your Position?

Your Position is a premium Insights Dashboard feature that displays:

• Your ranking: Your position among all participants (e.g., Rank 3/15)
• Completion percentage: Your overall check-in completion rate
• Leaderboard: Full ranking of all participants with their completion rates
• Context messages: Personalized insights about your position

Think of it as your habit-building scoreboard—but without the pressure. Unlike competitive fitness apps that can create anxiety, Your Position leverages the psychology of accountability in a supportive way.

Key Features

1. Your Ranking Summary

At the top of the card, you'll see:

• Your completion percentage: Large, prominent display (e.g., 87%)
• Your rank: Badge showing your position (e.g., "Rank 3/15")
• Crown icon: Special indicator if you're in first place 🥇

Your completion percentage tells you more than just "how often" you checked in. Research shows that measuring habit success beyond streaks provides a more accurate picture of your consistency. A completion rate of 80%+ typically indicates habit formation is well underway.

2. Context Messages

Personalized insights based on your position:

• Top performer: "You're leading the pack! Your consistency is inspiring others."
• Middle of pack: "You're in the top 50%. A few more check-ins this week could move you up."
• Catching up: "Focus on daily consistency to improve your ranking."

These messages aren't just motivational fluff—they're based on behavioral science showing that implementation intentions increase success rates by up to 91%.

3. Full Leaderboard

See all participants ranked by completion percentage:

• Medal indicators: 🥇 for 1st, 🥈 for 2nd, 🥉 for 3rd
• Your position highlighted: Special styling to make you easy to find
• Completion percentages: See exactly how everyone is performing
• Avatar display: Visual representation of each participant

The leaderboard format is deliberate. Studies on why group habits work better than solo efforts show that visible progress among peers increases motivation by 30-40% without creating unhealthy competition.

4. Visual Indicators

• Color coding: Top performers have special styling
• Your entry: Highlighted with primary color and "YOU" badge
• Rank badges: Different styles for different positions

How to Use Your Position

Understanding Your Ranking

1. Check your rank: See where you stand (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.)
2. Compare percentages: Understand the gap between you and others
3. Set goals: Aim to move up one position or maintain your lead

But here's what's important: your rank is less critical than your completion percentage. According to research on how long it takes to form a habit, consistency matters more than perfection. Being ranked 8th with 85% completion is better than being 3rd with 95% if you're building sustainable habits.

Using the Leaderboard Strategically

• Identify top performers: Learn from those doing well—not to copy them, but to understand their approach
• Find motivation: See who you can catch up to (make it a friendly challenge)
• Track progress: Watch your rank change over time as you improve
• Avoid comparison traps: Use rankings as motivation, not as a measure of self-worth

Remember, this isn't a competition with winners and losers. It's about building habits that stick while benefiting from social accountability.

Interpreting Context Messages

The card provides personalized messages like:

• "You're in the top 20%! Keep up the great work!"
• "You're close to the top 3. A few more consistent days could move you up!"
• "Focus on daily check-ins to improve your ranking."

These messages align with what our analysis of 1,000+ habit challenges revealed: specific, actionable feedback increases completion rates by 23% compared to generic encouragement.

The Science Behind Leaderboards

Why Rankings Work (Without Being Toxic)

Research in social psychology shows that leaderboards can be powerful motivators when designed correctly. Here's how Your Position avoids the pitfalls:

1. Relative, Not Absolute Competition

You're not competing for prizes or punishments. The leaderboard simply shows how cohort-based challenges create natural accountability through visibility.

2. Focus on Process, Not Outcome

Your completion percentage measures behavior (checking in daily), not results (losing 10 pounds). This aligns with identity-based habit formation, where becoming "someone who checks in daily" is more powerful than achieving specific outcomes.

3. Built-in Compassion

The Never Miss Twice Rule is built into our messaging. If you slip in rankings, the context messages encourage recovery, not shame.

What Research Shows

• Social comparison increases motivation by 30-40% (source: American Psychological Association)
• Leaderboards create healthy competition that boosts engagement by 25% (source: Stanford Behavior Design Lab)
• Ranking visibility improves consistency, especially when paired with accountability partners

Understanding Completion Percentage

Your completion percentage is calculated as:

(Number of check-ins) / (Total days in challenge) × 100

This gives you a clear metric of your consistency throughout the entire challenge.

What Different Percentages Mean

• 90-100%: Exceptional consistency. You're forming a strong habit.
• 80-89%: Great job. You've applied the Never Miss Twice Rule effectively.
• 70-79%: Good progress, but watch for patterns in your missed days.
• 60-69%: You're showing up, but habit relapse may be a risk.
• Below 60%: Time to reassess. Consider reading why you can't stick to habits.

Tips for Maximum Effectiveness

1. Check Regularly (But Not Obsessively)

Monitor your position once every 2-3 days. Daily checking can create anxiety; weekly checking misses opportunities for course correction.

2. Use Rankings as Process Goals

Instead of "I want to be #1," try "I want to move up 2 positions this week by not missing any check-ins." This focuses on behavior you can control.

3. Learn from Leaders (Without Copying)

Notice patterns: Do top performers check in at the same time daily? Do they use habit stacking to anchor their routine?

4. Don't Compare Negatively

If you're ranked lower, remember that group habit tracking works because of diversity, not uniformity. Your 75% might represent overcoming more obstacles than someone else's 90%.

5. Celebrate Movement, Not Just Position

Moved from rank 12 to rank 9? That's progress worth celebrating, even if you're not on the podium yet.

Common Questions

Does seeing my rank create pressure?

It can, if you interpret rankings as judgment. But research shows that when leaderboards are paired with supportive accountability (like Cohorty's heart button system), they motivate without overwhelming.

If you find rankings stressful, focus on your completion percentage instead. That's a measure of you versus your goal, not you versus others.

What if I'm consistently at the bottom?

First, recognize that showing up places you ahead of the 92% of people who quit habits in the first week. Second, long-term habit maintenance matters more than short-term rankings.

Consider these strategies:

• Read about building habits with no motivation
• Apply the 2-minute rule to make check-ins easier
• Ask your accountability partner for support

Can I opt out of seeing the leaderboard?

Yes, in your settings you can choose to hide the leaderboard and only see your personal completion percentage. Some users find this less stressful, especially those who are introverts or prefer quieter accountability.

How often does the leaderboard update?

Real-time. Every check-in immediately updates rankings and completion percentages.

Getting Started with Your Position

To access Your Position:

1. Upgrade to Premium (if you haven't already)
2. Navigate to the Insights Dashboard (tap the graph icon in your challenge)
3. Find the "Your Position" card (usually near the top)
4. Explore the leaderboard and set your first ranking goal

Making the Most of Premium

Your Position is just one of 8 cards in the Insights Dashboard. Together, they provide a complete picture of your habit-building journey:

• Completion Trends: See your progress over time
• Streak Analysis: Track your consistency patterns
• Best Check-in Times: Discover your optimal habit timing
• Team Performance: Understand group dynamics
• And more: Weekly summaries, motivation insights, and habit strength scores

All of these tools work together to give you the data-driven insights that make habit tracking actually work.

---

Ready to see where you rank? Upgrade to Premium and unlock the full Insights Dashboard with Your Position and 7 other powerful analytics tools.

Or continue learning: Explore our complete guide to building habits to understand the science behind every feature we build.