Starters Guide: How to understand the conditions that create your decisions. Why guilt free tracking is your ticket to the desired outcome..
What’s in this guide:
We live the same day, with same opportunities and the same conditions.
Guilt free tracking 101
Defining Context and Conditions
What others are saying about context and conditions.
Introduction:
We live the same day, with the same opportunities and similar conditions. B.F. Skinner's theory explains that behaviors followed by rewards are likely to be repeated. Daily activities that provide some form of reward (even as simple as comfort) become habitual. Neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections, means that repeated behaviors strengthen the neural pathways associated with them, making these behaviors more automatic. Emotion-Driven Behavior: Emotions strongly influence decision-making. Daily emotional states (such as stress from work or joy from hobbies) can create consistent patterns of behavior based on how individuals seek to manage their emotions.
The Habit Loop:
Charles Duhigg, in his book "The Power of Habit," describes the habit loop as a cycle of cue, routine, and reward. This loop explains why people tend to repeat the same behaviors daily—external or internal cues trigger routines that lead to rewards.
It's true that behaviors are incredibly hard to change, especially if those habits have deeper roots tied to emotion and stress. Coupled with the desire for comfort, this creates a significant barrier to achieving our desired outcomes. This is why most rigid, restrictive diets never work in the long run: the root cause of the behavior is never addressed. Remember, just because an old tree is chopped down doesn’t mean it will stop trying to grow. The root system is deep and intricate. This is the same with our behaviors. If the roots are too big to be removed—meaning there’s trauma and underlying issues with mental health—seek proper counsel.
For many of us with just a few unfavorable habits, therapy to dig up deep-seated issues may not always be necessary. Often, these habits are hiding in plain sight. This guide aims to help you understand that you’re essentially living the same day repeatedly. Weekdays, weekends, waking up early or late—it’s all the same pattern.
Picture this: living the same day, faced with the same decisions and opportunities to improve, yet still struggling to achieve your desired outcomes. That’s okay. By unraveling your patterns and understanding what triggers this cascade of behaviors, you can start addressing them steadily rather than going all out at once.
You might argue that your day is different from hour to hour and nothing is on repeat. While the events may vary—time with coworkers is not the same as time with family—the issue lies not in the events themselves, but in the conditions that have been unknowingly created, leading you to make decisions that are unfavorable to your goals.
Guilt-Free Tracking 101:
Guilt-free tracking; a no holds-bar raw honest look at the stuff you’re eating. Who knows, you could be pleasantly surprised with the outcome! One well-known research article on the topic is "Self-Monitoring in Weight Loss: A Systematic Review of the Literature" by Burke, L. E., Wang, J., & Sevick, M. A., published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Self-monitoring of diet, physical activity, and weight is related to successful outcomes in weight loss and weight maintenance programs. Among these, self-monitoring of dietary intake appears to be particularly effective.
But that’s not the goal of guilt-free tracking. Guilt-free tracking is about being authentic and honest with your decisions. It's tough; tracking what you’re actually eating doesn’t always feel good, and that’s okay. Things that are uncomfortable are often the things that can change us.
How to Guilt-Free Track:
There are many ways to track your eating habits guilt-free, but here’s what I find to be the most effective. Start your guilt-free log by simply opening a notes app and writing down where, who, what, when, and why you ate.
The key details you cannot skimp on:
What you ate.
Where you ate.
Who you ate with.
What time you ate.
Why you decided to eat.
It might seem silly, but these seemingly small things provide the context and conditions for the decisions you make. They form the invisible root system of your habits.
For my clients, I offer the option of taking a picture of the food or simply writing it into notes and collaborating. This step must be done before you eat. Do this for 3 to 7 days, and you’ll see the entire menu you gravitate toward, your flavor profile, and your decision-making process. The results can be almost comical, revealing how decisions were made and often guiding the tracker to identify what needs to change and how to make those changes.
Example:
I ate 6 slices of pizza, 3 scoops of ice cream, and 2 cannolis.
With Shello (my wife).
At Melos Pizzeria.
At 12:00 pm.
I was debating between pizza or pasta, but I craved pizza. Since I was already off track, I decided to top it off with dessert.
Analysis: When I went to a pizzeria with my wife at noon (let's say this was the first meal of the day), I had to choose between pizza and pasta. I chose pizza and, feeling indulgent, decided to eat cannolis and ice cream as well.
The questions to answer here are:
With the same conditions, can you make a healthier choice?
What condition is the hardest to change, and what condition is the easiest to change?
The answer in a nut shell is what conditions can you create. (Future Article Coming Soon)
Defining Context and Conditions:
Context:
Context encompasses the specific circumstances, settings, and environmental factors surrounding a decision or behavior.
Examples: Where you are, who you are with, what time of day it is, and any other relevant situational details that can affect your choices.
Conditions:
Conditions refer to the external and internal factors that shape your decision-making process and behavior.
Examples: Your physical surroundings, emotional state, past experiences, and any other factors that contribute to the context in which decisions are made.
Understanding the Context and Conditions:
Here it is, as simply as I can put it: What you ate, where you ate it, what time of day you ate, who you ate with, and why you chose pizza over spaghetti—these identifiers form the environment in which you make your decisions.
Behavioral science suggests that our actions are heavily influenced by the conditions we face. This theory implies that, much like a dog responding to cues, our environment plays a significant role in shaping our choices.
This isn't to say you should cut out all social situations and live a life of solitude and despair. Rather, it's about recognizing if you can make better decisions when faced with the same conditions.
Opposing Viewpoints on Context and Conditions for Behaviors:
Determinism vs. Free Will:
Determinism: Some argue that human behavior is entirely determined by external factors, such as genetics, environment, and past experiences. From this perspective, individuals have little to no control over their actions, and context and conditions play a dominant role in shaping behavior.
Free Will: Others advocate forthe concept of free will, suggesting that individuals have the ability to make choices independent of external influences. From this viewpoint, while context and conditions may influence decision-making, individuals ultimately have the power to override these factors and make autonomous decisions.
Reductionism vs. Holism:
Reductionism: Reductionists tend to focus on isolating specific variables or factors that contribute to behavior, aiming to explain complex phenomena by breaking them down into simpler components. From this perspective, understanding behavior primarily involves analyzing the influence of individual contextual factors or conditions.
Holism: Holists emphasize the interconnectedness of various factors and argue that behavior cannot be fully understood by examining isolated elements. Instead, they advocate for considering the holistic context in which behavior occurs, taking into account the interaction of multiple factors and systems.
Internal vs. External Locus of Control:
Internal Locus of Control: Individuals with an internal locus of control believe that they have control over their own lives and outcomes. They tend to attribute their successes and failures to their own actions and decisions, rather than external factors. From this perspective, context and conditions may play a lesser role in influencing behavior, as individuals perceive themselves as having agency.
External Locus of Control: Conversely, individuals with an external locus of control believe that external forces, such as luck, fate, or other people, largely determine their lives. They may feel less responsibility for their actions and outcomes, attributing them more to external factors than personal choices. In this view, context and conditions may be seen as more influential in shaping behavior.
Two different types of people emerge from the exercise of guilt-free tracking, determined by the philosophy they subscribe to. Recognizing which type you are can help determine whether your desired energy, body, and self-confidence are more valuable than the temporary discomfort of facing challenges head-on. It's about weighing the discomfort of feeling stuck against the minor discomfort of making small changes. Though the process may seem difficult at first, seeing results from making gradual adjustments is ultimately rewarding.