WEBVTT - Track your habits 

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to try tracking your habits. Checking in

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<v Speaker 1>each day on whether you've done what you intend to

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<v Speaker 1>do can be a helpful tool in achieving your goals.

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<v Speaker 1>Habit tracking has a long history. Founding father and self

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<v Speaker 1>improvement enthusiast Benjamin Franklin famously created a list of thirteen virtues,

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<v Speaker 1>such as frugality, moderation, and temperance. In his autobiography, Franklin

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<v Speaker 1>describes the habit tracker he created as a way to

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<v Speaker 1>visualize his progress. Each week, he drew a grid in

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<v Speaker 1>his note book with a column devoted to each virtue.

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<v Speaker 1>In the evenings, he considered whether or not he had

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<v Speaker 1>upheld each virtue. Over the course of the day, he

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<v Speaker 1>filled out the grid for that day accordingly. Now, despite

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<v Speaker 1>my admiration for Franklin, I will say that his virtues

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<v Speaker 1>were a wee bit vague. I think many of us

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<v Speaker 1>would benefit from tracking more specific habits, really behaviors. Maybe

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<v Speaker 1>it's keeping your daily spending under a certain amount. Maybe

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<v Speaker 1>it's reading to your children for twenty minutes, watering your

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<v Speaker 1>plants or walking ten thousand steps. All of these sound

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<v Speaker 1>more doable than just temperance, but vague or not, Franklin's

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<v Speaker 1>grid provides a lot of inspiration. Whether you use a

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<v Speaker 1>paper note booklet Franklin, or an Excel spreadsheet or an app.

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<v Speaker 1>Habit tracking can help keep you on track. I think

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<v Speaker 1>this happens for a few reasons. First, habit tracking can

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<v Speaker 1>help to increase the frequency of a desired behavior, simply

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<v Speaker 1>because the act of looking at your tracker each day

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<v Speaker 1>may remind you to do it. Second, a habit tracker

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<v Speaker 1>can motivate you to start and continue a habit streak.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's say you want to write at least five hundred

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<v Speaker 1>words every day. After a few days of adhering to

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<v Speaker 1>this habit, you'll start to see a chain of check

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<v Speaker 1>marks and your habit tracker. This can be extremely motivating,

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<v Speaker 1>and you can make a game out of seeing how

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<v Speaker 1>long a streak you can maintain. Third, tracking helps us

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<v Speaker 1>visualize how often we do things, and by giving us

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<v Speaker 1>hard data, we can take some of the worry and

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<v Speaker 1>emotions out of things. People are in general bad at

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<v Speaker 1>estimating how often they perform certain behaviors. This problematic estimation

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<v Speaker 1>can lead to broad pronouncements like I'm always on email

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<v Speaker 1>or I never play with my kids. But by putting

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<v Speaker 1>hard data down every day, you can gain a more

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<v Speaker 1>objective perspective. This can provide a surprising level of comfort

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<v Speaker 1>and reduce guilt. You may be on email a lot,

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<v Speaker 1>but you are not always on email, Or maybe you

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<v Speaker 1>feel you don't call your parents often enough. By tracking

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<v Speaker 1>that behavior, you may realize that you actually speak to

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<v Speaker 1>them on the phone far more often than you thought.

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<v Speaker 1>You see, you call them twice a week, and you'd

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<v Speaker 1>like to call them three times a week, so you

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<v Speaker 1>just mindfully pick up the phone a little more often

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<v Speaker 1>than you would success now, I would suggest limiting how

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<v Speaker 1>many habits you track. Even Benjamin Franklin knew that focusing

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<v Speaker 1>on too many habits at once would be overwhelming. He

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<v Speaker 1>chose to focus closely on one of his virtues each week,

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<v Speaker 1>rotating through the entire list four times per year. Similarly,

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<v Speaker 1>it can be helpful to choose a short list of

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<v Speaker 1>habits to track for a designated period of time, maybe

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<v Speaker 1>a week, maybe a month. When that period is up,

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<v Speaker 1>you can review your data and decide if you'd like

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<v Speaker 1>to track the same habits again or change things up.

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<v Speaker 1>Try filling out your habit tracker at the same time

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<v Speaker 1>each day, maybe before bed, and enjoy watching how your

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<v Speaker 1>behavior changes or for the good stuff remains steady. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>sure Benjamin Franklin would have a great aphorism to describe

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<v Speaker 1>this feeling, but I'll just say that progress is motivational.

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<v Speaker 1>A page full of check marks will nudge you on

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<v Speaker 1>to great Thanks. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks

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<v Speaker 1>for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

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<v Speaker 1>that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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<v Speaker 1>I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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<v Speaker 1>a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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