How many times have you tried to initiate creating a good habit? If you’re anything like me after reading that question, your eyes probably got a bit bigger remembering the countless times you’ve started to do something consistently and sputtered out shortly after the initial motivation and drive went away. The good news is that you are not a freak and everyone struggles with keeping consistent especially when you are trying to create good habits.
But what if I told you that you could change that around with almost no effort? What if I told you that you could develop those good habits without having to watch a Tony Robbins motivational video (nothing against him; his smile is legit) or listen to your favorite “pump up” song every morning?
“Stop with the infomercial, Bryce…” Ok fine. I don’t like those either. Well, I loved the Oxyclean one. Miss that guy…
I just finished a short book called “Mini Habits” by Stephen Guise. It’s a short read of just over 100 pages long and in it he explains a different way of almost tricking yourself into creating better habits.
Its foundational principle is in setting no more than 4 “stupid small” daily goals. What is “stupid small” when it comes to goals? Well, when using himself as an example, he started with one push up a day. His end goal was to workout consistently, but over the years of lofty goals and failed motivational techniques that had him starting and failing time after time, further affirming his self defeating mindset, his goal of one pushup a day turned into the lifestyle of exercise that he wanted to have to begin with.
“One push up a day? That’s all? That’s not enough to make a meaningful change in my body!” At face value, that’s true.
The real problem is that of willpower.
It takes way more willpower to get motivated for a 30 minute – 1 hour long workout, but if you tell yourself that all you have to do is a single push up that day and you’ve met your exercise goal, you can’t fail because it is such an incredibly small goal! And small goals build on top of one another. They allow you to take one step out of your comfort zone without your body going into freak out anxiety mode of “Hey, wait! What are we doing? We don’t exercise. Stop this. Stop this right now!”
What do you think is better in the end? One push up a day, with daily success, at the very least turns into 365 push ups in a year and a healthier self efficacy (your belief in your ability to succeed), which is more important than you might think. This would be in contrast to your thirty minute to one hour long workouts interspersed throughout the year depending on your motivation level. You may have intended to make it a life long habit, but your usual obstacles of “no time” or “I can’t keep this up” overcame you. The best part about your “stupid small” daily goal is that when you actually get on the ground to do that 1 push up, you realize it wasn’t as big of a deal as you might have thought. Then maybe you do two push ups, or three. Well now you decide you’re Mr. Universe and crank out 20 reps because 1 just isn’t enough for you. “What’s that?” you ask. “Oh, that’s just my confidence in the form of my muscles that were hiding all along. Try not to be intimidated by my newfound swagger.”
Do you see how you basically tricked your mind into doing more than what it expected? A 30 minute workout is daunting, but 1 pushup? Your brain says, “Oh go ahead, knock yourself out macho man.” or woman 🙂
Doing a little bit everyday has the chance to turn into an actual lifelong habit.
Take a second and think what it is you most want to become a habit. Break it down into its smallest parts. Do the smallest step you can think of every day and treat that as a win. Over time, you will do more and more “bonus reps” because your “stupid small” daily goal is just way too small for your pride to accept and you will be encouraged by your constant successes!
Take these examples as starting points for a variety of goals:
Daily Devotional – your “stupid small goal” is to sit with the Bible in your lap for 1 minute
Daily Exercise – your “stupid small goal” is to do 1 rep of any bodyweight movement that interests you or that you think is valuable
Reading More – your “stupid small goal” is to read 2 pages of your topic of interest every day
Writing More – your “stupid small goal” is to write 25 words per day (that’s how this article was written)
Be More Grateful – your “stupid small goal” is to think of 1 thing that you are thankful for every day that is different from the previous day
Be More Social – your “stupid small goal” is to comment on one Facebook friend’s post a day
Do you see how this almost insults you into doing more?
I use a free app that helps me keep track of my habits and motivates me to keep up the streak. It’s called “Habit Bull” It’s encouraging to look back on your weeks of effort especially in times of weakness when even your “stupid small goal” seems a bit bigger than usual. Keep the streak going and don’t break the chain! It’s important to see all of those consistent days being checked off.
In a highly cited study on the formation of habits (2009 European Journal of Social Pscychology), Jaarsveld, Potts, and Wardle found that the average time it took for a behavior to become a habit was 66 days. Although, the range was from 18 to 254 days.
It can take up to 254 days for a new habit to form. It can also take just 18. The research is in quite a wide range so it’s important to track your successes and keep up the effort no matter what. In the same way bad habits can creep up into your life, so can good habits. Be consistent and your mind will be conditioned to a point closer to the lifestyle you really want to have. Quite frankly, it doesn’t matter how long it takes for the habit to form because whatever you choose to try and make a habit is something you should want to be doing forever anyway! Why would you stop once you finally made something a habit?
Try this for a week and compare your previous progress and failed attempts. Experiment and see how just one mini habit can take you to the next level.
Think of it this way, the most you have to lose from trying this is maybe a minute, but no more than 10 minutes, of your time every day.
It’s easy to keep up with because the requirements are so small. Don’t underestimate the insult to pride a “stupid small” daily goal will have on your ego.
It’s in doing the small things consistently that you can learn to create new, genuine habits that last a lifetime. It isn’t work. It’s giving yourself a foothold to climb the mountain one step at a time.
No more delaying. No more “I’ll start tomorrow.” Your daily goal can be done right now. Let it be the first link in your chain and keep it going. I think you’ll find that you actually enjoy doing those “bonus reps” a lot more than you think 😉
Take Luck,
Bryce Berry, CSCS, Pn1, OTC
P.S. – Is exercise the habit you wish most to make consistent? That’s kind of my thing. I’m a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist by the internationally recognized NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association) and I work with busy moms and time-stretched dads who never seem to have enough spare time to devote to a healthier lifestyle. Through a hybrid model of online training and one-on-one sessions, I meet you where you are and help you reach your goals quicker than if you were to go at it alone. Fill out my online consultation form when you decide you’re ready to take the next step to invest in your health. After I review your responses and we get a chance to talk, our journey will begin immediately if we’re a good fit 🙂
Here’s the link for the consultation form: https://goo.gl/forms/NK7GpdYNLgW2nbC73
And here’s a little more info About Me
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