The Win of a Mini-Habit
A mini-habit is like the training wheels of a bike. It trains you to become ready for the habit. Let’s say you have a goal to lose weight. Your action plan is to run for 30 minutes, three times a week. Sounds like a good plan, right? Cause that’s what all the experts say you should do.
However, if you were completely inactive before, this is gonna be a shock to your brain, body, and routine. It is thus going to be harder to stick to.
A mini-habit is a mental trick that doesn’t force you to jump straight into the habit you want to create (which in this example is to run 30 minutes a day, three times a week). A mini-habit simply focuses on what you need to do before executing that habit. In the case of this example, a mini-habit could simply be, “Change into exercise clothes and walk down the stairs, three times a week”.
Anything else you do after you complete the mini-habit is a BONUS.
One day, you might go out and walk an extra bonus 5 minutes. One day, you might jog for a bonus 15 minutes. And another day, you might not even open the front door. Regardless of what bonus you clock in on each, you’ve completed your mini-habit every single time! WIN!
The more you win, the easier it is for your mini-habit to start becoming part of your routine. Also, the more you win, the more you train your body and your mind to handle for a bigger step without burning out. And the best part is, you gain more confidence and belief in yourself too.
In our next email, I’ll be discussing how to design a mini-habit to suit your ability and lifestyle, so do keep an eye out for that email.
