Tiny Habits are the Name of the Game
I took myself to “Tiny Habits” School last week. I didn’t pass with flying colors, but I did learn a thing or two. And one of my key learnings? If you don’t succeed at first, rethink your plan.
So, just what are “tiny habits?” Well, actually they are just tiny habits. Very simple, but quite profound.
Some of you may have come across the book “Tiny Habits - The Small Changes that Change Everything by BJ Fogg. It’s a tactical and embraceable approach to creating habits or routines that are important to you, but just don’t happen naturally.
BJ Fogg is a Behavioral Scientist at Stanford University, and the creator of Stanford’s Design Lab. He has spent years studying behavior and habits and working with thousands of clients to help them think “tiny” when it comes to doing big things.
And the nice thing about tiny? When tiny, a new behavior doesn’t require a great level of motivation to accomplish. It doesn’t feel overwhelming; instead, it feels doable. But obviously a hint of motivation helps you open the door to trying.
In Fogg’s Behavior Model, three conditions need to exist:
Motivation – the will or desire to make something happen
Ability – your capacity to perform the behavior
Prompt – your cue to do the behavior
In addition to tiny, automaticity is also key … Essentially what this means is figuring out how to design your approach to the habit so it becomes natural and automatic to do, without thinking about it.
Envision your day and your environment. What are those things that you do without thinking, those things you do automatically.
Brushing your teeth … taking a shower … taking the dog out for a walk … making a cup of coffee. These are all habits that you probably do without thinking about them … unless, of course, you don’t have a dog.
These daily events are called ANCHOR MOMENTS. And when you’re starting something new, choose one of those anchor moments and stack your new habit right on top of it. This anchor moment will trigger the next action that you take.
So here’s an example of “tiny.”
BJ Fogg likes to talk about one of his first habit experiments – the habit of flossing just one tooth. If you can stay consistent with flossing just one tooth for a bit of time … you’re establishing a routine, and pretty soon, you may just decide that it is easy enough to floss a few more.
And one more thing to think about. Once you complete your new tiny habit, figure out a small way to celebrate it. It can be as simple as a smile, a high five to yourself, or saying “yes I did it.” There are hundreds of things you can do, and yes it does sound a bit silly.
But when you feel good, your brain releases dopamine – helping to reinforce the habit. And as BJ Fogg’s research has proven, “emotions create habits. Not repetition. Not frequency.”
Emotions are the king here – feeling good about something you’ve accomplished.
So back to my experiment with new habits over the past week … and what I learned. I will share one with you.
I decided I wanted to incorporate a few planks into my day. So every time I went to the bathroom, afterwards I would get on the floor and do a 30 second plank.
This didn’t work so well for me. First I was away on a family vacation, and traveling and not being in your own domain gets in the way of establishing new routines.
Back at home, I still wasn’t hitting the mark, and just not always remembering. So I realized there was an opportunity to “redesign” this habit … and to think through what I could do differently.
So now I’m experimenting with brushing my teeth, and then doing the plank. This works better, as I know I’m always in the same bathroom when I’m brushing my teeth. When brushing my teeth, it also typically triggers more of a routine … whether in the morning or the evening. So far this is working … but I realize that I’m open to further redesigns if needed.
If I’ve peaked your interest in experimenting with creating your own tiny habits, you too can go to five days of Tiny Habits School (and it is FREE).
You will be assigned a coach and asked to create three tiny habits to get you going. It’s as simple as thinking about what you might do, doing it, and then your coach will check in daily by email to see how you’re doing and to see if you have any questions.
Here’s the link to get started:
If you end up experimenting with new habits, shoot me an email and let me know how it goes. New habits, after all, are the way to get you on the road to achieving what is important to you. And it's kind of fun to experiment … and always important to remember that redesigning until you hit upon the right formula is the key to your success.
I say, go for it!