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Why You Should Be Tracking Your Habits (and How to Do It Well)
Set a Schedule
To make your habits automatic faster, plan them into your day. Do them in the same way, in the same place, at the same time every day.
If you complete your new habit at any time, on any day, you won’t get the advantage of familiarity that helps you get used to doing that behavior without thinking about it.
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SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
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Key Ideas
Willpower is like a muscle
Just like going to the gym and building up strength, the more you train your willpower by accomplishing tasks on a consistent basis, the more you’ll have of it.
Habits = “automatic” responses...
...to familiar environmental cues.
They form when you engage in a behavior repeatedly in the presence of consistent stimuli.
Self-Discipline - a series of healthy habits
Long term change is better served by building better habits, than by forcing your willpower.
You will choose the apple over the cake for a number of times ... and then give up. Building a habit to start the day by going to the gym will work better.
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Key Ideas
Habit-formation apps are aspirational tools
They're less about distilling your life into a series of data points and more about becoming your ideal self: If you use their app, you too can become a person who practices good habits. You can become someone who exercises and meditates every day and always drinks eight glasses of water.
The 4 tendencies when it comes to habit formation:
- upholders: disciplined and respond to both internal and external expectations;
- obligers :can’t keep commitments to themselves but respond to expectations from others;
- questioners: ask why and can keep a habit if they understand the logic reasoning;
- rebels: hate being told what to do by others, so it has to be something they want to do.
Habit apps use the psychology of habit formation
- Many rely on a “streak” feature: they track how many consecutive days you’ve completed the habit;
- Other apps offer accountability features to pressure you into completing your goal;
- Some apps turn habit formation into a game: The app rewards users who complete their habits with badges and other virtual incentives.
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Key Ideas
How to Build a New Habit
- Start with an incredibly small habit, one that is easy enough that you don't need motivation to do it
- Increase your habit in very small ways - start small and gradually improve
- As you build up, break habits into chunks
- When you slip, get back on track quickly.
Jim Rohn
"Success is a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day."