What if the smallest act could unlock the biggest transformation in your life?
Not some elaborate 12-week program. Not a motivational seminar. Not a five-year plan wrapped in corporate fluff.
Just the simple act of tracking.
Write something down. Make a tally mark. Weigh yourself. Record one number.
That’s it.
And yet, it’s one of the most powerful change you can make. Because the moment you start measuring something… you start transforming it.
You aim your mind. You shine a spotlight. You begin to see.
And what you see, you can change.
Let’s break this open and show you how to build a better life—one tiny measurement at a time.
The Reticular Activating System: Your Built-in Hypnotist
You have a filter in your brain called the Reticular Activating System, or RAS. This is not science fiction—it’s neuroscience. It decides what you notice and what fades into the background.
The moment you declare something matters, like your health, your finances, or your professional practice, your RAS locks on and starts scanning the world like a predator drone. You’ll suddenly “notice” the exact YouTube video, the book on a friend’s shelf, the casual remark from a coworker that cracks open the insight you need.
This isn’t something woo-woo or mystical. It’s selective attention. It’s hypnosis, running in the background.
And tracking something, literally just measuring it, activates your RAS like flipping a switch.
Start weighing yourself every morning, and your unconscious mind begins making subtle, automatic course corrections. You might eat a little less. Move a little more. Crave different things. Without trying.
That’s what tracking does.
It’s a hypnotic signal that says: This matters now. And your mind responds.
The Surprising Things You Should Track
Let’s make this real. Here are just a few areas where tracking makes an outsized impact:
Health & Fitness
It’s not about vanity. It’s about feedback.
Tracking your weight, waist measurement, or strength milestones brings awareness to what your body is doing. At the Mike Mandel Hypnosis Academy, we use the Triple W: Weight, Waist, and Whatever matters to you.
For some, that’s how their clothes fit. For others, it’s flexibility in a stretch or reps on a pull-up bar.
Even if you make zero changes, tracking alone often leads to unconscious improvement. One of our friends dropped weight without doing anything differently. He just stepped on the scale every day. His unconscious handled the rest.
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Nutrition
You don’t need a spreadsheet of macros (unless that excites you). Just notice.
Are you eating within a window? Intermittent fasting? Are you letting Friday night desserts become Tuesday snacks and Thursday “exceptions”? Track it. Not with guilt. With curiosity.
You can simply write down: “One treat today.” That’s enough to keep your RAS tuned and your inner compass aligned.
Sleep
This one’s massive. If you’re not recovering, your system grinds down.
Mike used to sleep in until 9:30 AM. Life on the road as a stage hypnotist will do that. But once he started tracking sleep and committing to a 10 PM bedtime, the results were dramatic. Now he’s up before 6 AM with energy to spare.
Track your hours. Notice patterns. Are you getting the rest your mind and body need?
Personal Practice
Meditation. Self-hypnosis. Journaling. Piano practice. Creative work. These are what we call identity rituals. Things that reinforce who you want to become.
Use the “Maintain the Chain” method. Make a tally mark each day you do the thing. It’s low-effort, high impact. And it builds discipline without force.
Business & Money
If you run a business, this is non-negotiable. You already track leads, sales, ad spend, and cash flow. That’s obvious.
But here’s the twist: track your personal finances with the same CEO mindset.
How much did you save this month? Where did the budget slip? What’s your investment return?
You don’t need to become a finance wizard overnight. Just start noticing the flow of your money. Your future self will thank you.
Projects
This one’s deceptively simple. You’ve got a goal. You want to write a book, build a course, renovate a room, or learn an instrument. Break it into parts. Make a checklist. Then track your progress one small task at a time.
Tiny dopamine hits from checking boxes are real. Use them.
How to Track for Maximum Impact
Here’s the process. Built for actual humans, not perfectionists.
- Pick one thing. Not five. Not three. One. Something that matters now.
- Choose a method. You don’t need fancy software. You can use a notebook, sticky note, or a whiteboard. Old-school works brilliantly.
- Decide when. Pick a time to track. It could be first thing in the morning, right before bed, or after your workout. We call this habit stacking.
- Visualize success. When you track, take five seconds to imagine your future self succeeding. See it. Feel it. Let it burn in. That’s hypnosis in motion.
- Celebrate small wins. You walked today. You ate within your window. You saved fifty bucks. Awesome. Tell yourself you’re winning. That matters more than you might think.
What Gets In the Way (and How to Shrink It)
You’ll hit bumps. Everyone does.
“I forgot.”
No problem. Start again. One missed day isn’t failure. It’s feedback. Maintain the chain by rebuilding it.
“I don’t have time.”
Tracking takes less than a minute. It’s not time, it’s friction. Reduce it. Make it easier.
“It’s not working.”
Give it time. Momentum compounds. Real change is subtle, then sudden. Keep going.
This Isn’t Just a Hack. It’s a Way of Seeing.
When you start tracking something, you’re not just collecting data. You’re sending a message to your unconscious that what you're doing is important.
And your unconscious listens.
Track your way forward. Use your pen like a wand. Write it down. See it clearly. Let your mind do the rest.
Join Our Community
If you want to go deeper into this kind of thinking, where hypnosis, mindset, and measurable change all intersect, come join us inside the Brain Software Syndicate.
It’s our private space for curious people like you. The thinkers. The doers. The ones who know the weird little things often turn out to be the big levers.
You’ll fit right in.