“One of the best reasons to start habit tracking is that you will develop an ancillary habit, DISCIPLINE.”
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You’ve never tracked habits before? That’s alright, most people haven’t.
After all, life is meant to be lived, not tracked, right?
Well, it turns out, you can and should do both; live and track.
As an example, Benjamin Franklin tracked his habits (13 virtues) for approximately sixty years.
Sixty years!
Apparently, habit tracking is what Hindu priests do as well to refine their character and concentrate better.
Habit tracking is an effective method for goal achievement.
If your goals are important, you should begin habit tracking.
Many people think that discipline is required to track habits.
The truth is that discipline is a HABIT.
Discipline is strengthened via habit tracking.
Nobody is born disciplined.
Habit tracking is difficult at first because it requires willpower.
What’s the difference between willpower and discipline?
Here are some general definitions:
Willpower: Control exerted to do something or restrain impulses.
Discipline: A system of rules of conduct. That “system” is developed via habit-tracking.
Habit tracking develops discipline because it aligns one’s intentions (what they say they will do), with willpower (what they actually do).
Habit tracking is where the proverbial “rubber meets the road.”
People talk a lot about what they are “going to do.”
P.A.R.R., as a habit-tracking method, helps to ensure that one’s intentions and actions actually intersect.
P.A.R.R. stands for PLAN. ACT. RECORD & REASSESS.
After 13+ years of proven success stories, the P.A.R.R. method stands alone for systematic success in developing habits and improving one’s habitstrength.
When P.A.R.R. was originally introduced (2010, The Habit Factor® was published), many of the top behavioral scientists said that habit tracking was not effective.
However, today there are scientific studies backing the efficacy of habit tracking and the P.A.R.R. methodology.
For that reason alone, understanding the best habit-tracking method can save you a lot of time and frustration.
Benefits of following the P.A.R.R. method to develop habits:
It sets you up for success early.
By establishing a PLAN with low “Minimum Success Criteria” and low “Frequency per Week”, you are more likely to succeed.
P.A.R.R. uses what are called “Target Days.”
Target days establish your frequency per week. For one habit, target days might be: M,W, Sa. For another they might be Tu,Th, Sa.
There is NO requirement to perform habits every day. In many cases that fallacy is what sets people up for failure.
P.A.R.R. uses a 28-day, 4 Week rhythm for habit tracking.
This provides a crucial reassessment period and allows the user to “raise the bar” in successive 28-day periods. See habitstrength™ below.
P.A.R.R. anticipates that you’ll fall off track.
By following P.A.R.R., you can miss a day, a few days, a week or even a month and still develop habits and achieve your goals!
P.A.R.R. leverages your innate human capacities of Choice, Intention & Reflection.
Cue, Routine, Reward, another “framework” for habit development, popularized by The Power of Habit and Atomic Habits, is based upon the study of rodents.
You are not a rodent. Cue Routine Reward is very limited in its value for human habit development.
Habitstrength™: Finally, the best reason to follow P.A.R.R. is the recognition that on the path to habit development – a period that could take several months – it’s the compounding of each successive 4-week tracking period that enhances habitstrength™.
As habitstrength™ improves with each successive 4-week tracking period, automaticity (the sensation that these behaviors become more automatic) increases and the habit becomes stronger.
P.A.R.R. works as well for SKILL development. Habits and skills are essentially developed the same way; intentional practice. The P.A.R.R. methodology is a systematic process to increase both habit and skill strength.
When you track habits and skills by following the P.A.R.R. methodology, you increase habitstrength and develop discipline.
For detailed, step-by-step instructions on P.A.R.R. be sure to download the FREE habits to goals tracking template at https://thehabitfactor.com/templates and/or Google the following: “PARR and The Habit Factor”
Enjoy the show!
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How to Habit Track (the right way)