Tracking-without-doing · also called logging as self-deception
why do my numbers look good when nothing is changing
Tracking-without-doing is the substitution of recording a behavior for performing it: logging a workout that was half done, checking a box for a habit you barely touched, extending a streak on the strength of the entry rather than the act. Habit apps reward the log because the log is what they can measure, which quietly teaches the brain to chase the entry instead of the outcome it was supposed to represent.
The app cannot tell the difference between the rep and the record of the rep. After enough practice, neither can you.
What to do about it
Before you log anything today, ask whether you would still check the box if no app were watching.
Books that work on this
Each is a 90-day programme. Start with the first — later books assume the work in the earlier ones.
Discipline Over Motivation$6.99
Crushing Soft Habits$6.99
No One Cares$6.99
The Discipline Blueprint$6.99
The Iron Routine$6.99
The 5AM Tax$6.99
Standards Beat Goals$6.99
Show Up Anyway$6.99Part of the Discipline series.
How people say it
Nobody looks this up by its clinical name. These are the ways it actually gets said.
- I check the habit off even when I barely did it
- my streak looks perfect and my actual results do not match it
- logging the workout feels like doing the workout
- I game my own tracking app without meaning to
- why do my numbers look good when nothing is changing
- the tracker made me focus on the log instead of the work
- I keep the streak alive by cutting corners nobody sees
Written by Brian Spiker, who has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — the receipts. More terms in the encyclopedia.