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Mini Habits Summary
About Mini Habits Book
Discover the Life-Changing Strategy of This Worldwide Bestseller in 17 Languages!
Lasting Change For Early Quitters, Burnouts, The Unmotivated, And Everyone Else Too
When I decided to start exercising consistently 10 years ago, this is what actually happened:
I tried "getting motivated." It worked sometimes.I tried setting audacious big goals. I almost always failed them.I tried to make changes last. They didn't.
Like most people who try to change and fail, I assumed that I was the problem.
Then one afternoon--after another failed attempt to get motivated to exercise--I (accidentally) started my first mini habit. I initially committed to do one push-up, and it turned into a full workout. I was shocked. This "stupid idea" wasn't supposed to work. I was shocked again when my success with this strategy continued for months (and to this day).
I had to consider that maybe I wasn't the problem in those 10 years of mediocre results. Maybe it was my prior strategies that were ineffective, despite being oft-repeated as "the way to change" in countless books and blogs.
My suspicions were correct.
Is There A Scientific Explanation For This?
As I sought understanding, I found a plethora of scientific studies that had answers, with nobody to interpret them correctly. Based on the science--which you'll find peppered throughout Mini Habits--we've been doing it all wrong.
You can succeed without the guilt, intimidation, and repeated failure associated with such strategies as "getting motivated," New Year's Resolutions, or even "just doing it." In fact, you need to stop using those strategies if they aren't giving you great results.
Most popular strategies don't work well because they require you to fight against your subconscious brain (a fight not easily won). It's only when you start playing by your brain's rules and taking your human limitations seriously--as mini habits show you how to do--that you can achieve lasting change.
What's A Mini Habit?
A mini habit is a very small positive behavior that you force yourself to do every day; its "too small to fail" nature makes it weightless, deceptively powerful, and a superior habit-building strategy. You will have no choice but to believe in yourself when you're always moving forward.
The barrier to the first step is so low that even depressed or "stuck" people can find early success and begin to reverse their lives right away. And if you think one push-up a day is too small to matter, I've got one heck of a story for you!
Aim For The First Step
They say when you aim for the moon, you'll land among the stars. Well, that doesn't make sense, as the moon is closer than the stars. I digress.
The message is that you should aim very high and even if you fall short, you'll still get somewhere. I've found the opposite to be true in regards to productivity and healthy behaviors. When you aim for the moon, you won't do anything because it's too far away. But when you aim for the step in front of you, you might keep going and reach the moon.
I've used the Mini Habits strategy to get into the best shape of my life, read 10x more books, and write 4x as many words. It started from requiring one push-up from myself every day. How ridiculous is that? Not so ridiculous when you consider the science of the brain, habits, and willpower.
The Mini Habits system works because it's how our brains are designed to change.
Note: This book isn't for eliminating bad habits (some principles could be useful for breaking habits). Mini Habits is a strategy to create permanent healthy habits in: exercise, writing, reading, thinking positively, meditating, drinking water, eating healthy foods, etc.
Lasting change won't happen until you take that first step into a strategy that works. Give Mini Habits a try. You won't look back.
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Personal development blogger Stephen Guise offers a self-improvement program that is “too small to fail.”
Mini Habits: Too Small To Fail
- Take one small step every day to initiate a lifelong positive habit.
- People form habits over time through repeated behaviors.
- A mini habit is the smallest possible iteration of a positive habit, like one push-up.
- A mini habit is “too small to fail” because it requires only a tiny bit of willpower, and you quickly accumulate a record of success.
- When your motivation for an activity is high, you don’t need much willpower. When your motivation is low, you need a lot of willpower, which most people don’t have.
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Mini Habits: Rules And Workings
- Mini habits work because they deplete little of your willpower reserve.
- On the mini-habit plan, you divide your goals into “stupid small” but effective actions.
- The mini-habit rules are: don’t cheat, be glad when you succeed, give yourself rewards, stay with your new routine, and drop back and go smaller if it gets hard.
Also, enjoy the ease of your new small steps, recognize why they work, and don’t set bigger goals – just repeat your new mini habit a few extra times.
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Stop Fighting With Yourself
To make changes last, you need to stop fighting against your brain.
Instead, decide that you’re better off taking a step, even a small step, than staying in the same place. Taking one small step daily leads you in the right direction and sets you on your way to developing a lifelong habit. The small step requires little willpower, but its results are enormous.
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Tips for Achieving Life Changes
Making life changes can be tough even if you're determined and sincere.
Don't overestimate your self-discipline. Here are some tips to help:
- Start small with mini habits
- Be consistent and commit to a small change every day
- Track your progress to stay motivated
Remember that intention without action is pointless. Start today!
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Small Steps Lead to Big Results
Why take a small step daily?
- Develops lifelong habit
- Requires little willpower
- Leads you in the right direction
What are the benefits of taking small steps?
- Creates big results
- Easy to achieve
- Builds motivation
🔍Turn your goals into reality, one small step at a time!🚀
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The Power of Mini Habits 😎
Habits Matter! 🧐 According to Duke University, they make up 45% of our behavior. By simply repeating a behavior, we strengthen the pathway associated with it.
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Book explains :
It explains how you can get the most out of the fact that 45% of your behavior happens on autopilot by setting ridiculously small goals, relying on willpower instead of motivation and tracking your progress to live a life that’s full of good mini habits.
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Accomplishment
...Every giant accomplishment is made of very small steps... and to take them one at a time like this is not weak, but precise.
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Self-discipline
True self-discipline is not when you have someone ordering you to do push-ups, it's when you decide on your own to do them.
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STOP Your Dependence On Motivation: Here’s Why
- Motivation is unreliable, since it is based on how we feel (bad days, good days). We have known for centuries that human emotions are fluid and unpredictable.
- Motivation comes by believing in positive aspects of a goal and it’s really hard to change your feelings just by thinking.
- Motivation is destructive. When you rely on motivation to make you do something, there will always be decreasing enthusiasm following up and every subsequent time you will be requiring more of motivation to even get started.
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Willpower Over Motivation: Why It Works?
- Willpower, unlike motivation, is reliable. If you are forcing yourself to do something, you get accountability for your actions and that’s dependable.
- Willpower can be strengthened. You can improve on your ability to take actions despite feeling resistance due to feelings.
- Willpower strategies are consistent. If you rely on motivation, you will have a tough time scheduling and repeating behaviours.
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If you feel motivated or enthusiastic before doing something, it’s great. The problem comes when you start assuming it as your cue for taking action because then, you are depending upon it. Next time, you are unenthusiastic, you won’t do it.
STEPHEN GUISE
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Set a daily task so small and easy it's actually laughable and see the magic happening.
Realistic, practical and amusing in his approach, Stephen in this book actually addresses the elephant in the room, the difficulty in habit formation and maintaining consistency with our goals and the reason behind just why inspite of wanting something really that ''bad" we keep falling flat on our face. The mini habit principal elaborated throughout the book focuses on building self efficacy from the scratch and never lose consistency in the tasks/habits we've always want to do.
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