Logging

{via PaperTissue}

I get a free monthly newsletter on emotional/mental health from the Jove Institute that always has something interesting in it. This month Marcos Quinones talked about logging, nothing to do with trees mind you. It's writing things down in order to stop a certain behavior.

I had a teacher who said that if you wanted to limit your spending you don't need to create a budget, just write down everything you spend. Once you become aware of how much you're spending you'll automatically decrease. The same goes for losing (or gaining) weight. Just being aware of how much I'm eating has helped immensely. I have changed some of the stuff I'm eating, but mostly I'm shrinking my portion size. It works! I'm down 13.8 lbs! (If you're interested in seeing how portion sizes have grown over the past 20 years check out this fascinating article.) Marcos suggests that this could work for any habit you would like to stop or perhaps create. Here is the short essay on logging by Marcos Quinones, LMSW if you're interested:

Logging techniques have been around for a long time. Now, with advances in technology, logging is made simple.

First, let's discuss the purpose of the logging. Again, by bringing attention to each cigarette that a person smokes, portions of food consumed at a meal, or any activity that one wants to decrease, the person can eliminate a habitual pattern. Attention is key. Most people see immediate reduction in the activity just by bringing attention to it.

Others see reduction by not wanting to log it (low frustration tolerance or shame). Finally, having a visual representation of how much the behavior is performed allows a person to strategically manage or extinguish the behavior at certain times of the day. For example, if the behavior is an internet porn addiction in which a person performs in the morning before work, he or she could schedule other distracting activities or other cognitive/behavioral exercises at that time.

Using technology to log has become easier with Google. Google has a free email/calendar program. In the settings section of the calendar, a person could register their cell phone number. Then, the person could send a text message to 48368 to record an event in the calendar. 48368 is the text number for Google's Gvent. The system automatically registers an event entry in the calendar at the day and time that the text was sent. Then, once per week, the person can take a look at the calendar and see patterns, and possibly days/times where the person can make a conscious effort to reduce the behavior.