The Proven CHANGE Framework: How Best Selling Author Brad Young Reinvents Daily Habits
- Brad Young
- May 1
- 5 min read
It’s Friday, May 1st, 2026. A fresh month is staring you in the face. For most people, a new month is just another page on the calendar, but for those of us in the Brady Young Change community, it’s an opportunity to audit the systems that run our lives.
If you feel like you’re spinning your wheels, working hard but not actually getting closer to the life you envisioned, the problem usually isn't your talent or your ambition. It’s your infrastructure. Specifically, it’s the daily rituals you perform without even thinking about them.
Brad Young, our CEO and the #1 bestselling author of Business Decision Making, didn’t reach the top by accident. He did it through a rigorous, yet simple, system called the CHANGE Framework. Today, we’re diving deep into the most critical pillar of that framework for anyone looking to transform their trajectory: Habits.
Why Your Habits Are Failing You
We’ve all been there. You read a motivational quote, get a surge of dopamine, and decide that "starting tomorrow," you’re going to wake up at 5:00 AM, run five miles, and read a book a week. By day three, the alarm clock is a mortal enemy, and by day seven, you’re back to your old routine.
In his book CHANGE, Brad Young explains that habits fail when they aren't anchored to a larger ecosystem. You can't just change a habit in a vacuum. To make a shift stick, you need to understand how it interacts with your Communication, your Attitude, your Network, your Goals, and your Education.
Habits are the bridge. On one side, you have who you are today. On the other side, you have the goals you’ve set for your future. If the bridge is full of holes, you’ll never cross over.
The Six Pillars of the CHANGE Framework
Before we go deep into the "H," let's look at the full architecture Brad uses to help high-performers reinvent themselves:
Communication: How you talk to yourself and others.
Habits: The daily rituals that build or break your momentum.
Attitude: The mindset filter through which you see the world.
Network: The high-performer inner circle that pulls you upward.
Goals: The roadmap that gives your habits a destination.
Education: The continuous learning that keeps you sharp.
When you align these six, you don't just change your day; you change your destiny. But today, we are focusing on the engine room: Habits.
The Brad Young Method: The Daily Log (Good, Bad, and Ugly)
One of the biggest takeaways from Brad’s research and his #1 bestseller, Business Decision Making, is that you cannot manage what you do not measure. Most people have a vague idea of their habits. Brad prefers a surgical approach.
His secret weapon? The Daily Log.
Brad writes down his habits every single day. He doesn't just track the "wins." He tracks the "good, the bad, and the ugly."
The Good: Did you hit the gym? Did you make those 50 sales calls? Did you spend quality time with your family?
The Bad: Did you waste two hours scrolling on social media? Did you snap at a colleague?
The Ugly: Did you completely ignore your diet or skip a crucial business decision because of fear?
By logging everything, you remove the "feeling" of how your day went and replace it with "data." Data doesn't lie. When you see your habits written down in black and white, you can see the direct correlation between your daily actions and your current level of success.
Actionable Transformation Strategies: Reinventing Your Daily Habits
If you want to use the CHANGE framework to reinvent your habits starting today, follow these four steps:
1. Audit for Alignment
Take a look at your top three goals. Now, look at your last three days of activity. Is there a direct link? Brad often says, "If your habits are right, you can achieve any goal." If your goal is to grow your business by 40%, but your daily habit is "clearing emails" for four hours, you have a misalignment.
The Strategy: Pick one goal. Identify one "Lead Habit" that makes that goal inevitable. If the goal is fitness, the habit is putting on your shoes at 6:00 AM. If the goal is revenue, the habit is 10 outbound outreaches before lunch.
2. The "Good, Bad, Ugly" Daily Log
Start a physical or digital log tonight. Before you go to bed, spend five minutes cataloging your day. Don't judge yourself: just record. Over a week, patterns will emerge. You’ll see exactly where your time is leaking. This is a foundational principle from Business Decision Making: making decisions based on reality, not assumptions.
3. Replace, Don't Erase
It is incredibly difficult to simply "stop" a bad habit. It is much easier to replace it. Within the CHANGE framework, we look at the "Attitude" pillar to help this. If you have a habit of stress-eating, you don't just stop eating; you replace the "Stress -> Eat" loop with "Stress -> 5-minute walk."
4. Leverage Your Network
Habits thrive in environments that support them. If you’re trying to build a habit of high-level business decision-making but your inner circle is focused on Friday night happy hours and complaining about the boss, your environment is working against you. The Strategy: Tell one person in your high-performer network about the habit you are building. Ask them to hold you to the "Ugly" parts of your log.
Connecting Habits to Business Decision Making
In Brad's book Business Decision Making, he explores how the best CEOs and leaders don't actually make more decisions than the average person: they just have better habits surrounding how they decide.
High-level decision-making is a habit in itself. It’s the habit of gathering data, the habit of checking your ego at the door, and the habit of acting decisively once the path is clear. If your daily habits are chaotic, your business decisions will be chaotic. By stabilizing your personal rituals: sleep, nutrition, focus time: you create the mental "white space" necessary to make the big calls that move the needle.
Stay Inspired: The PodCentral Publishing Network
Transformation doesn't happen in a vacuum. You need constant input to keep your Attitude sharp and your Education current. Brad is constantly sharing insights from the CHANGE framework on our latest podcast episodes.
Whether we’re discussing the nuances of Communication or interviewing other high-performers about their daily rituals, these episodes are designed to provide the "Education" pillar of your growth.
Check out our latest episodes here: PodCentral Publishing Network
Success is a series of well-executed habits. Whether it's the car you drive or the business you build, it all starts with the CHANGE framework.
Final Thoughts for May 1st
As we kick off this new month, I want you to pick one habit. Not five. Not ten. Just one.
Use the CHANGE framework. Write it down (Goals). Track it daily (Habits). Tell a mentor (Network). Learn the best way to do it (Education). Stay positive when you stumble (Attitude). And clearly define why it matters (Communication).
If you can master the "H" in CHANGE, the rest of the pillars start to fall into place. You aren't stuck; you're just out of practice. Let’s get back to the log. Let’s get back to the work.
Ready to dive deeper? Grab your copy of CHANGE or Business Decision Making today and start building the infrastructure for the life you deserve.
It’s time to stop wishing and start doing. Let's make this month the one where everything shifted.
Stay motivational, stay disciplined, and most importantly, stay focused on the CHANGE.
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