How to Track Negative Habits

"A nail is driven out by another nail. Habit is overcome by habit." ~Desiderius Erasmus The first answer is provided by Desiderius' insightful comment above, rather than tracking a negative habit one should focus on building a new, positive habit in its place. For instance, if you wanted to stop and/or reduce your beer consumption, you should focus on tracking your water or other beverage consumption. Or, you might even substitute a non-alcoholic beer and track that. The problem is when you focus your attention on a negative habit by tracking it, you tend to reinforce the thoughts and emotions related to the negative habit. For instance, if you are told not to think about a pink elephant, the very first thing you will do is think of a pink elephant. Your mind and subconscious tends to ignore the concept of negatives. By focusing on a new, positive habit your attention and energy are set upon building a new positive habit which will replace the negative habit. The other effective way is to weaken a negative habit's habitstrength. By following PARR Plan, Act, Record & Reassess and instead of using the "minimum success criteria" use a "maximum success criteria". When trying to lower habitstrength the core idea is to establish a maximum or threshold not to exceed for your target day. Over time, by lowering the "maximum success criteria" the habitstrength weakens. For instance, the first two or four week tracking period you might allow yourself up to 7 cigarettes per target day and the second tracking period you might then lower the threshold to 5 cigarettes per target day. For each subsequent tracking period the maximum success criteria is lowered for each target day and over time the habitstrength decreases. Enjoy the episode! *** New listeners: By texting the word "HABITS" to the mobile phone number "33444" you will instantly receive your "hack"/habit tracker/habit development template, or you can download it here: thehabitfactor.com/templates. Feel free to share the episode and leave a review on iTunes!  ***** Subscribe iTunes here! Subscribe: Android | RSS ***** 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!) TRELLO! **HABIT FACTOR RESOURCES!!** The New HabitXP Planner! (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) The Pressure Paradox™ **WEBINARS** Get Unstuck Course  Habit Mastery: (FREE) Learn the process to Master Habit, Enhance Discipline and Strengthen Willpower: The 28 Day Breakthrough! Free Webinar: (Mini Course) Why Happiness is a Habit and how to cultivate it! Free Webinar: (Mini Course) Focus & Discipline --------- Thank YOU for checking out this episode and we're always grateful when you SHARE our episodes w/ your friends and family and help us by writing a review ; ) ---------- This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit habits2goals.substack.com/subscribe