Hello Friends, Hump Day is here yet again…how are you?
I’m hanging in there. Hope you are too.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t have anything planned in my editorial calendar for this week’s post. In fact, I had this topic scheduled for a post in late July. But I’ve decided to introduce it now and then check in later (#accountability).
Last month I bought two e-books by Stephen Guise, Mini Habits and Mini Habits for Weight Loss. I started to read the first and soon wondered if it came in an audio book… this has nothing to do with the book, and everything to do with my head. So I signed up for a month-long trial of Audible (which came with two free downloads) and started listening instead. Two things happened. First, I found that I would much rather listen to a non-fiction book than read it as my mind tends to wander when there’s too much minutia to wade through before you get to the good stuff. And second, I liked this concept of mini habits.
I would definitely recommend reading/listening to the books, but in the essence of time, the concept is this: you set very small goals to accomplish everyday, so that you’re set up for success with the tiniest bit of effort. You don’t need to have motivation to do these habits, you need willpower. You can force yourself to do almost anything, and when it’s a tiny task it makes it so much easier to get over any mental road block you may have. It’s just one pushup, for instance. Even I could do that (albeit not very well). But once you’ve achieved that tiny goal, you may be inclined to continue with “bonus reps,” as Guise calls them. Or if you stop there, you’ve reached your goal for the day and can feel good about what you’ve achieved, instead of making the goal ten, or 100 pushups and then possibly (probably, for me) falling short and feeling like a failure (again, me).
It wasn’t until after I had outlined my 100 Day Challenge goals (HERE) that I thought I could put the concept of mini habits into practice. Use smaller daily goals to help me achieve my bigger 100 day goals. If you missed my 100 Day Challenge post, the areas I want to concentrate on are:
- Phase 1 of Bathroom Reno
- Shred Old Financials
- Recommit to Health & Fitness, specifically:
- Drink More Water
- Eat Fewer Processed Foods
- Do PT Every Day
- Create A Capsule Wardrobe
- Post Consistently on Instagram
- Promote the Blog on Pinterest
- Start Etsy Shop
Now, I don’t know that mini habits will help me with all of these goals. For instance, I don’t think there’s one (same) thing I can do every day that will help me with my bathroom reno. Maybe there is, I don’t have this mini habit thing down pat quite yet. But that’s not the point. The point is that I’m using them to help me with a couple of the goals above. The book suggests focusing on 4-5 mini habits at a time, so I narrowed mine down to four:
- Shred two pieces of old financials
- Put on workout clothes when I get up
- Drink a glass of water first thing
- Write one Instagram caption
So far, only ten days in, I have pretty consistently done two of these things: putting on my workout clothes and drinking a glass of water before I consume anything else. Putting on my workout clothes makes me more inclined to do my physical therapy. And so far I have done it every day, sometimes twice a day! And while my back isn’t perfect, or if I’m being honest not even considerably better, it feels good and is a step in the right direction. And if I have my workout clothes on, I may be inspired to do other fitness-y things, like a bicep curl or a minute of cardio (two mini habits I originally considered tackling).
As for the other two, I’m getting there. I’m working on decluttering my office to locate all the old financials before I can start shredding them lol, and the caption habit, well, that one’s all on me. I have to just do it. And if I find that I consistently can’t do it (or don’t do it), maybe it’s too big of a goal and it needs to be broken down further. Time will tell, but I’m not giving up yet.
Would you try a mini habit to help achieve your goals?
Many thanks and much love,
laf
Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash