The Habit Factor®; You don’t get what you want, you get what you measure (Track)
“This app is awesome. It’s basically Applied Behavior Analysis for self-management in your pocket. that means it uses experimentally derived principles of behavior (whether the developers knew/intended this or not) to effect behavior change.”Review By: 8280 Titled “ABA” – about The Habit Factor® for iPhone
Regardless of the desired goal/objective you must daily track your progress. Old news for sure, but I bring this up because it’s worth reiterating to make sure users of The Habit Factor® fully understand the premise behind the Tracking capability within the app. On occasion, I’ve heard comments like, “why do i have to track my habit- it should just be my habit for my entire life.”
Before I answer that, let me outline the main purpose of the app, The Habit Factor®. ONE: To foster and develop habits you DO NOT currently have via TRACKING so they NO LONGER NEED TO BE TRACKED. Hence, The Habit Factor®. TWO: To help you achieve goals through the development of habits which support those goals. There are others, but those are the two essential benefits we hope users derive from this app. To help people foster better behaviors that become automatic (habits) AND to help them achieve goals by establishing supportive behaviors.
So, to answer the person’s question “Why would I want to track “family time” as a habit when, “I want this habit my whole life.” The answer is; you TRACK it to ensure you are meeting your ideals in terms of time commitment to the habit. You TRACK it to see how well you are doing against those targets/ideals. If you are easily hitting your targets, chances are it’s already a HABIT and doesn’t need to be tracked or, you may want to increase your target frequency to challenge yourself to commit even more time to the behavior. In either case, it is only through TRACKING that you are able to ASSESS then PROGRESS.
More to come… until next time.
-mg
