Habit Tracking is for Humans
Habits 2 Goals: The Habit Factor® Podcast with Martin Grunburg
Release Date: 11/30/2020
28 Days!
Habits 2 Goals: The Habit Factor® Podcast with Martin Grunburg
“A key idea behind habit tracking is to use the week's rhythm. Thus, 28 days, not 30 days, should be the tracking period for each habit.” Many authors and behavior change 'experts' offer various ideas about habit development. Unfortunately, many are misleading. One such idea is that habit tracking is optional when it comes to habit development. While it’s true that people develop habits without tracking them, those habits tend to be negative. To develop good, positive habits, science has proven that tracking behaviors tends to be very beneficial. Here’s why: ...
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Aloneness
Habits 2 Goals: The Habit Factor® Podcast with Martin Grunburg
“You are born alone and you will die alone.” This week we investigate aloneness. Aloneness is different from loneliness. MG discusses a book he read in the early '90s while backpacking across Europe, Stephen Batchelor's, Alone with Others, an existential approach to Buddhism. After thirty-plus years, MG challenges that statement by adding a twist. While we are born alone, it is with and in spirit. When we die, it is the spirit that leaves our bodies. Thus, we are not entirely born alone, nor do we die entirely alone. Arguably it is our spirit that is either with us...
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John Rossman Interview – The Amazon Way
Habits 2 Goals: The Habit Factor® Podcast with Martin Grunburg
"People don't improve by hearing, 'Good job!'" Habits 2 Goals rings in 2023 with an educational and entertaining interview featuring John Rossman. John is the author of the bestselling book, The Amazon Way, Think Like Amazon and The Amazon Way on IoT. John is a business strategist, operator, and expert on digital transformation, leadership, and business reinvention. John has consulted with many great brands including Novartis, Fidelity Investments, Microsoft, Walmart, and Nordstrom. He served as senior innovation advisor at T-Mobile and senior technology advisor to the Gates Foundation. John...
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Energy Flows
Habits 2 Goals: The Habit Factor® Podcast with Martin Grunburg
"Energy flows where attention goes." This week we revisit a goal achievement first principle: EVERYTHING IS ENERGY. Suppose everything is energy (and it is). That means you are energy, and your goal will require energy. Interestingly, habits are the most efficient use of behavior energy and this is why The Habit Factor process of habit alignment is so effective. There are two key elements that impact one's behaviors the most over a long period of time; their environment and thinking, which is predominantly in the form of stories). To illustrate MG discusses the "3 Circles of Behavior...
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The HERO's Narrative
Habits 2 Goals: The Habit Factor® Podcast with Martin Grunburg
"Notice all the B.S. stories you tell yourself about EVERYTHING. Then, run them through the H.E.R.O.'s checklist." Your internal monologue is very active! Sometimes it's helpful, and other times, not so much. This internal chatter provides stories about EVERYTHING, from your career to your potential. You even have stories about your spouse, friends, etc. You also have stories about your goals, the ones you choose to pursue or not. These stories establish boundaries. They setup walls that become impenetrable until you notice them first. The more aware you can become of your internal dialogue...
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Goals are Not Optional!
Habits 2 Goals: The Habit Factor® Podcast with Martin Grunburg
"Goals are not optional!" Drifting – living an aimless life – might be fun for a week, a month, maybe even a year. However, drifting for too long is dangerous. Having a purpose – a big, vital goal – to pursue is essential to a fulfilling life. The fact is almost everyone already has goals. Unfortunately, as Tony Robbins likes to say, "they're mostly impotent." Weak goals like "make it to the end of the month" or, "get to happy hour after work" won't keep you inspired. It also helps to think of goals as "intelligence in action." We arrive at that definition by assessing the definition...
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It's not about the Marathon!
Habits 2 Goals: The Habit Factor® Podcast with Martin Grunburg
"You don't need to eat a piece of cake after you run 5 miles." Studies on habit development support the idea that self-efficacy – the ability to produce the desired result – is rewarding. By following P.A.R.R., (Plan, Act, Record & Reassess), The Habit Factor's method for habit development, users experience self-efficacy, often. Of course, the opposite is true. If a user does not follow through on their habit tracking plan they will be unhappy. Hence, the method encourages users start with low tracking parameters. By creating a habit plan, and then acting on that plan, you...
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Discipline is a Habit
Habits 2 Goals: The Habit Factor® Podcast with Martin Grunburg
"Discipline is a habit. Nobody is born disciplined." Too often, people say, "I'm just not disciplined enough." The truth is that nobody is born disciplined. Discipline is a habit that can and should be cultivated. Following The Habit Factor's simplified method for habit development, P.A.R.R., anyone can improve their discipline more quickly. A key aspect of P.A.R.R. is that it cultivates habitstrength. Just by tracking your habits and following P.A.R.R., you will improve your discipline. The key is to follow P.A.R.R. and begin with small "targets." Over time, you'll be eager to track...
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Killing Negative Habits
Habits 2 Goals: The Habit Factor® Podcast with Martin Grunburg
"A nail is driven out by another nail. Habit is overcome by habit. ~Desiderius Erasmus Visit: https://everythingastory.com "EVERYTHING is a F*cking STORY" a recent #1 Amazon Hot New Release! When it comes to mastering your habits, knowing how to eliminate bad habits is essential. In Season 6, "," covered a few ways to kill negative habits. In this episode, MG reviews the critical importance of replacement as a core strategy for habit elimination. The listener is challenged to focus on developing a positive habit that will replace the negative one. "You should...
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Intentional Practice
Habits 2 Goals: The Habit Factor® Podcast with Martin Grunburg
"Isn't all practice intentional?" Visit: https://everythingastory.com "EVERYTHING is a F*cking STORY" a recent #1 Amazon Hot New Release. EVERYTHING is a F*cking STORY debuts as a "prequel" and completes a "trilogy" MG never knew existed. Martin began writing The Habit Factor® shortly before 2005; it was published in 2010. Then, in 2015, The Pressure Paradox™ was published. EVERYTHING culminates nearly 20 years of deliberation, collaboration, and meditation, all in the pursuit of deconstructing human behavior for the purposes of goal attainment. In this episode, MG shares...
info_outline"When it comes to habit development, humans can, and should, leverage their innate capacities of choice, intention and reflection."
Today's Mind-Bullet is about why habit tracking is beneficial. AGAIN.
After being interviewed for a habit-specific podcast recently, the host was left a bit befuddled as MG challenged much of what the host was told were "best practices" around habit development.
At one point, the host mentioned that a habit expert and behavioral scientist had insisted that habit tracking was not a requirement or even a recommended practice, and that habit-tracking apps didn't work.
The truth is, people do not need to track habits in order to develop them. Unfortunately, people forge habits all the time unintentionally, and regrettably, they are habits that do not serve their goals.
It's worth considering that if habit-tracking apps didn't work so well, why would there be so many of them? And, nearly all of them have entered the app marketplace after The Habit Factor was introduced more than a decade ago.
Further, some of the most-cited habit studies—for instance, the European Journal of Social Psychology, which concluded that on average, habit development takes 66 days—utilized habit tracking with their participants.
Another terrific example of habit tracking can be traced all the way back to our great founding father, Benjamin Franklin.
Ben intuitively recognized that in order to cultivate the 13 virtues he desired to possess as an older man, he needed to track them. Benjamin Franklin then devised a strategy to track one habit (virtue) a week for 13 weeks, and rotate through his list of 13, four times a year.
So, you may be wondering, "How did that work out for Ben?"
Well, as he remarked in his autobiography, it (habit tracking) may have added the greatest value to his life, and that, "he was a better person for the effort." Further, he encouraged his readers to follow his habit-tracking example, saying, "I hope therefore that my descendants will follow the example and reap the benefit."
That's right! Benjamin Franklin wants you to track your habits!
If you're thinking, "Ben didn't track habits, he tracked virtues," you need only understand that habit is the means—a pathway—to virtue, according to Aristotle, that is.
So, when it comes to intentional habit development, put your unique human capacities of choice, intention and reflection to work and follow the P.A.R.R. method of habit development.
Be like Ben! Enjoy the episode!
How are you going to improve your results in 2021?
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As a Man Thinketh
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TOOLS/BOOKS WE RECOMMEND:
Bucket List PRO (iOS app) iTunes
Grab your FREE copy of As a Man Thinketh (PDF) right here:
As a Man Thinketh
The 3 C's of SucCcess (Mitch W. Steel)
The Psychology of Achievement (Brian Tracy)
The Power of Positive Thinking (Norman Vincent Peale)
The Magic of Thinking BIG! (David Schwartz)
Think & Grow Rich (Napoleon Hill)
The Success Principles (Jack Canfield)
Getting Things Done! (Allen's Great Book!)
**HABIT FACTOR RESOURCES!!**
(FREE! The Habit Factor's Tracking Template)
The Habit Factor® (website: BLOG, tips, tools and other resources)
The Habit Factor® Book (Amazon Kindle)
The Pressure Paradox® Book (Amazon Kindle)
The Habit Factor app (iOS, Android)
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Free Webinar: (Mini Course) Why Happiness is a Habit and how to cultivate it!
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