How Tracking Helps Make Difficult Habits Fun!

Until now, we’ve discussed the four stages of a habit and how to use different techniques at each stage. We focused on tips like habit stacking and temptation bundling to prime ourselves and like working on the habit now. But my confusion, along with many others who read the book, is simple.

By the way, this article is based on what I have learned from the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. If you haven’t read it till now, check it out for sure! It’s an amazing book.

My Main problem

I do everything that has been said. I am stacking my habits and bundling a habit I “want” with the habit I “need”. But there has been this disconnect every time I go back to the habit again.

Take writing daily for an example. Bundling the writing habit with a cup of coffee while stacking it along with my morning routine has helped me stay on a streak for more than 10 days! But, even after these 10 days, it’s hard to view this as a habit I “love”, unlike watching a TV show or scrolling those Instagram reels. What’s the problem, you ask?

If I don’t think much of going into the habit next time, would it remain my habit if I change my location or make it a part of my morning routine? I mean, what happens if I want to clean the house and start writing instead of returning from a morning walk and writing a few words?

That’s my confusion. And luckily, the 4th stage of the habit deals with this confusion.

The law of rewards

We focused on making the reward as attractive as possible when discussing cravings. But what happens if the reward is attractive but not satisfying? Suppose you defined the reward of working out as “watching a movie”. What happens when the movie is not a good one? You’d not want to do the habit again.

Of course, when you go to the gym again, you’ll anticipate watching a good movie and getting the workout done. But you’ll “want” to do it again only if the reward is satisfying. That’s the law we were discussing about. And we can think of a million ways to make something satisfying.

From making the reward an instant-gratifying habit, like eating a pizza, smoking a cigarette, drinking a smoothie and so on. That works, but these rewards come with their baggage. For example, I can’t bundle pizza or a smoothie with my writing habit as someone losing weight.

The whole game of satisfying the reward makes sense but should be implemented carefully if we do things independently. Luckily, a better way has been tested and is also becoming a good field in the productivity space. The approach I am referring to is the “gamification”. Why is this working? Let’s look into it.

The gamification of habits

The gamification I am referring to is closing your Apple watch rings, the 75 hard challenge, the 30-day challenge and many similar things. These habit streaks are important as they bundle up multiple aspects we’ve discussed.

Habit streaks/habit tracking are,

1. Obvious, making the cue as direct as possible.
2. Anticipating. One of the best side effects is how we look after the result during a long period.
3. Satisfying. Looking at the streak you’re on can give an insane confidence boost on bad days.
4. Enhance Development. For habits like writing, working out, singing, and playing a guitar, the more you do them, the better you become.
5. Identity building. The more you reinforce a habit, the more it becomes a part of your identity. You’ll be more focused on the process than the goal.

Of course, what we track matters a lot. Having a 7000-step challenge for 30 days can help for 30 days, but that doesn’t make you like walking. If you focus on “walking” rather than the step count for those 30 days, you’ll enjoy taking walks rather than counting steps.

I realised the last part after participating in a 21-day challenge of 7500 steps daily. It indirectly impacted how I look at walking, but 2–3 days after the challenge finished, I stopped taking walks as I focused on the wrong thing while making the habit. What do you think about this? Did you have any similar experience? Share it with us in the comments!

I hope you found value in what I shared today! This is the 8th article I started last week in the On What I Read series! If you’d like to follow me on this journey, follow and subscribe to The Story Taste!

Thanks for staying till the end! Until next time! ✌️