More Ways to Track, More Ways to Win
Gamify the long game so you can find a win in almost every session.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 83%
Hormozi extends how long he can stay in a game by manufacturing frequent rewards. Successful people, he argues, don't have more willpower — they have more ways to reward themselves, which lengthens their tolerable time horizon. Practically, he tracks many metrics so at least one is up; he reframes a small number like 100 impressions as a room of 100 real people he'd be thrilled to speak to; and he counts both absolute growth (10 to 15 followers) and relative growth (a 50% gain) as wins. He points to Olympic-lifting coach Travis Mash, who has lifters log every rep at every weight so any workout can beat a past personal best — guaranteeing a win every session. These micro-wins are the fuel that carries you across a long game you otherwise couldn't finish.
Origin
Hormozi credits his behavioral-scientist friend Dr. Cashey ('the more skills you have, the more ways you have to reward yourself') and coach Travis Mash's PR-every-workout system, applied to his own content-tracking in the early days.
Core principles
- 01The more skills you have to reward yourself, the longer a time horizon you can sustain.
- 02The more metrics you track, the more chances you have to record a win.
- 03Reframe small absolute numbers as micro-events worth showing up for.
- 04Both absolute and relative growth are legitimate wins.
How to run it
- 1
Track many metrics at once
Instrument your pursuit with lots of measures so that on any given day at least one of them has moved up.
Pro tip If you track a hundred things and only one improves, you can still honestly claim progress.
- 2
Reframe the biggest number as a real room
Take the largest available metric — impressions, views — and imagine that many people physically in a room. A hundred impressions becomes a hundred people you'd be stoked to reach.
Pro tip Pretend those small numbers are micro-events you created the work for.
- 3
Count absolute and relative growth
Log both the raw gain and the percentage gain. Going 10 to 15 followers is only five people, but it is also a 50% increase.
- 4
Keep a book of past bests to beat
Record every prior personal record so you can always find one to beat this session, guaranteeing a win each time.
Pro tip Map every set and rep at every weight, so there's always an old mark within reach today.
- 5
Project the trajectory forward
Extrapolate the current compounding rate to see where consistency lands you in 6-12 months, making a future win exciting now.
Pro tip Project with no lucky 'white swan' events so the baseline is honest and any breakout is upside.
In the wild
Olympic-lifting coach Travis Mash has lifters map every single set and rep at every weight into a book of past marks. Because the book holds a mark for every rep range, a lifter can always find one they can beat by a rep or five pounds — so they hit a personal record and get rewarded every single workout.
→ Lifters stay excited and keep showing up because every session produces a recorded win.
In his early content days Hormozi would look at a video with 13 views and, instead of feeling defeated, treat it as a small room of 13 people he was making the work for — a room he'd have been glad to speak to in person.
→ Reframing tiny numbers as real audiences made the unrewarded early grind feel worthwhile.
Common mistakes
Tracking a single outcome metric
Betting your motivation on one number means most days show no movement, so the long game feels pointless and you quit.
Dismissing small absolute numbers
Calling 100 impressions 'nothing' throws away a genuine win; the same number reframed as a room of people is fuel.
Is it for you?
Best for
Creators, athletes, and founders grinding through the unrewarded early phase of a long game.
Not ideal for
Short, single-outcome tasks where inventing micro-metrics adds noise.
From the transcript
“The more ways you track, the more ways you can win.”
“If there was a room of a hundred people, I'd be stoked... taking those little impression numbers and pretending that they were like micro events.”
From the episode
19 Harsh Truths About Human Nature - Alex Hormozi - #610
Alex Hormozi