MiniHabitsSmallerHabits,BiggerResults

byStephenGuise

www.deepexistence.com

Primaryblog–focusing,habits,smallsteps,etc.

www.minihabits.com

Supplementalbookinformation

CopyrightandDisclaimers

MiniHabitsbyStephenGuise

Copyright2013,AllRightsReserved

LegalDisclaimer:

Theinformationcontainedinthisbookistheopinionoftheauthorandisbasedon the author's personal experiences and observations. The author does notassume any liability whatsoever for the use of or inability to use any or allinformationcontainedinthisbook,andacceptsnoresponsibilityforanylossordamagesof anykind thatmaybe incurredby the reader as a result of actionsarisingfromtheuseof informationfoundin thisbook.Usethis informationatyourownrisk.

Theauthorreservestherighttomakeanychangeshedeemsnecessarytofutureversionsofthepublicationtoensureitsaccuracy.

Preface

Ihadexperimentedwithpersonaldevelopmentstrategiesforadecade.WhenIaccidentallystartedmyfirstminihabit in2012—andthechangesImadewereactually lasting—I realized the prior strategies I relied on were completefailures.Whensomethingworks,thatwhichdoesn’tworkisexposed.

Thescienceinthisbookexposesthemostpopularpersonalgrowthstrategiesaspredictablyinconsistent,andshowswhyminihabitsare themosteffectiveandreliablewaytobuildhealthynewhabits.

Whenyou finish readingMiniHabits, and thenagainafteryoustartyour firstminihabit,you’llwonderwhynobodytoldyouabout thisstrategybefore,andwhereit'sbeenallyourlife.Well,hey,nobodytoldmeeither.Butlet’sfocusonyourbright future,because thisbookwillbetterequipyou tochangeyour lifethan99%ofthepeopleyouseewalkingaroundonthisglobe—peoplewhothinkthattheyarethereasontheycan’tachievelastingchange.Butthetruthismuchlessdire—theproblemisn’twiththem,it’swiththeirstrategy.

HowThisBookIsStructured

TherearesevenmajorpartsinMiniHabits.Theendgoalofthisbookistohelpyou permanently add healthy, habitual behaviors to your life. The first threeparts discuss habit-building, the brain, willpower, motivation, and how theyrelate with one another. The next two parts discuss logical and scientificconclusionsabouthowtobestutilizethisinformation.Thelastthreepartsshowyouhowtoapplyit.Herearethesevenpartsingreaterdetail...

1.IntroductionToMiniHabits

Here,you'llfindoutwhataminihabitis.ThispartincludesthestoryofhowIfirstmadeonepush-upafullworkout(whichbecameamini-phenomenoncalled“TheOnePush-upChallenge”).We'llalsoexplorewhyhabitsaresocritical toactivelydevelop.

What it establishes:what amini habit is, the importance of habits, and how Istumbleduponmyfirstminihabit.

2.HowYourBrainWorks

Inpart two,we'regoing to take a look at thehumanbrain.Understanding thebrain can help tremendously in newhabit formation, because you can employsuperiorstrategieswiththisknowledge.We'lllearnabouttheactiveandpassive(i.e.consciousandsubconscious)partsofthebrain,andhowtheyworktogethertoshapeourdailybehavior.

What it establishes: the inner workings of the human brain as it relates tobehaviorchangeandcreatingnewhabits.

3.WillpowerVs.Motivation

Wehavetwostrategiesfortakingaction—eithergetmotivatedsothatwewanttocompletethetaskorforcetheissuebyusingwillpower.Isonebetterthantheother?Doweuseboth?Sciencerevealsthewinner,andsuggeststhesinglebestwaytoapplyit.

Whatitestablishes:whyit'sbesttousewillpowerexclusively(withminihabits)andignoremotivationaltogether.

4.TheStrategyofMiniHabits

Thefirstthreepartslaidthefoundationforthisconceptoftiny,dailyactions;inthenext twoparts,we’lldiscusswhy that is thecaseandhow it shouldwork.Mini habits aremost effectivewith the propermindset, and this part gets youintothatmindset.

What it establishes: the connection between the Mini Habits strategy andeverythingwe'velearnedabouthabitchangetothispoint.

5.TheMiniHabitsDifference

ThispartdelvesintotheadvantagesoftheMiniHabitsstrategy’sdifferencesandhowitcanworkforyouwhenothershaven’t.

Whatitestablishes:allthatmakesminihabitsuniquelyeffective.

6.MiniHabits–EightStepsToBigChange

Theseeightstepswillshowyouhowtochooseyourhabits,planyourjourney,and take your first small steps forward. Each step is broken down into detail,explainingexactlywhyit'snecessary,differentstrategiestoemploy,andhowtobestexecute.

What it establishes:how toapplyminihabits toyour life, from the“Iwant tocreateanewhabit”stagetosuccess.

7.EightMiniHabitRules

ThislastpartcoverstheeightrulesoftheMiniHabitsstrategy.Theseruleswillkeepyouontrackandensureyoumaximizeyourpotentialandresults.

What itestablishes: therulesofminihabits thatwillhelpyougetgreat resultswhileavoidinghabit-breakingmistakes.

***

Areyoureadytodiscoverhowsmallerhabitsleadtobiggerresults?Isurehopeso,becauseI'mexcitedtoshowyou.Let'sgo!

TableOfContents

Part1

IntroductionToMiniHabits

HowItBegan:TheOnePush-upChallengeForGoodHabitsOnlyABriefSynopsisOfMiniHabitsAboutHabitsAndTheBrain

Part2

HowYourBrainWorks

Slow-Changing,StableBrainsAStupidRepeater&ASmartManagerThePrefrontalCortexTheBasalGanglia

Part3

MotivationVs.Willpower

TheManyProblemsWith“GettingMotivated”WhyWillpowerBeatsMotivationHowWillpowerWorks

Part4

TheStrategyOfMiniHabits

UsingWillpowerTheMiniHabitsWayHowMiniHabitsExpandYourComfortZoneTheTwoMomentsOfResistanceMiniHabitsInTheMoment

Part5

TheMiniHabitsDifference

MiniHabitsCanCompeteWithYourExistingHabitsSmallSteps&WillpowerAreAWinningTeamOtherMethodsWillTellYouIt'sOkToLetUpTooSoonMiniHabitsIncreaseYourSelf-efficacyMiniHabitsGiveYouAutonomyMiniHabitsMarryTheAbstract&ConcreteMiniHabitsDestroyFear,Doubt,Intimidation,&HesitationMiniHabitsCreateInsaneBonusesOfIncreasedMindfulness&Willpower

Part6

MiniHabits–EightSmallStepsToBigChange

Step1:ChooseYourMiniHabits&HabitPlanStep2:UseTheWhyDrillOnEachMiniHabitStep3:DefineYourHabitCuesStep4:CreateYourRewardPlanStep5:WriteEverythingDownStep6:ThinkSmallStep7:MeetYourSchedule&DropHighExpectationsStep8:WatchForSignsOfHabit

Part7

EightMiniHabitRules

1.Never,EverCheat2.BeHappyWithAllProgress3.RewardYourselfOften,EspeciallyAfterAMiniHabit4.StayLevel-headed5.IfYouFeelStrongResistance,BackOff&GoSmaller6.RemindYourselfHowEasyThisIs7.NeverThinkAStepIsTooSmall8.PutExtraEnergyandAmbitionTowardBonusReps,NotABiggerRequirement

FinalWords

AnOptionalModificationApplyThisStrategyElsewhereWantMore?

IntroductionToMiniHabits

“Thejourneyofathousandmilesbeginswithonestep.”—LaoTzu

Let'sbeginyourfirstminihabit.

Readatleasttwopagesofthisbookeverydayuntilyoufinishit.Youmayreadmorethanthat,butneverless.Itwon’trequiremuchtimeorefforttoreadtwopages,sotherearenoexcuses.Nowyoucanexperiencewhatit'sliketohaveaminihabitasyoureadaboutminihabits.

Touchyournoserightnow.I'mserious. I’llexplain later.Ok,nowthinkaboutwhatthefollowingtruthsmeanforyourlife:

1.Bigintentionsareworthlessiftheydon'tbringresults.Forexample,IcansaythatIwillexercisefortwohourseveryday,butifIneverdoit, thesizeoftheintentiondoesn'tmatter.Infact,intentionwithoutactionharmsself-confidence.

2. People have been shown in studies to chronically overestimate their self-controlability.1

These two simplepoints revealwhy somanypeople struggle to change.Theyhavebigambitions,butoverestimatetheirabilitytomakethemselvesdowhatit

takestochange.It'samismatchbetweendesireandability.

Herearetwomorefactstoconsider:

1. Doing a little bit is infinitely bigger and better than doing nothing(mathematicallyandpracticallyspeaking).

2.Doingalittlebiteverydayhasagreaterimpactthandoingalotononeday.Howmuchgreater?Profoundly so, because a little bit everyday is enough togrowintoalifelongfoundationalhabit,andthoseareabigdeal,asyou'llsee.

Ifthesestatementsseemreasonabletoyou,themainconclusiontodrawisthatsmall intentions are better than big intentions. Interesting, right? We're justgettingstarted.

Haveyoueverfeltstuck?Haveyouevertriedtochangeyourselfforthebetterandfailed?Haveyoudoneitoverandoveragain,andevenstoppedtryingforlongperiodsoftime?

We'veallbeenthere,Ithink,butletmeaskyouthesemoreinterestingquestions.

What ifyourfailure to takeactionandstick toyourplanwasneveraproblemwithyou,butaproblemwithyourstrategy—thestrategythatmostoftheworldusesandendorses?Andwhat if the scienceabouthumanbehavior,willpower,andthebrainsuggestedabetteralternativeforstickingtoyourplans—onethatisrarelypracticedorpromoted?Andwhatifashifttothisnewstrategychangedeverythingforyou,andnomatterhowyoufelt,youknewyoucouldtakeaction,reachyourgoals,formgoodhabits,andchangeyourlife?

Welcometotheworldofminihabits.

It all sounds overblown, I know, but you just readmymini-autobiography upthere.Thisistheexactrealityandtherevelationthattranspiredformestartinginlate2012.Theprevioustenyearsofmylifewereaconstantsearchandstruggletogrow,withdisappointingresults.But thenI triedsomething thatproducedabreakthroughunlikeIhadeverexperiencedbefore,soIscrambledtounderstand

exactlywhythisoddstrategyworkedsowell,andIwas(andamstill)amazedathoweverythingfitstogether.Andnowhere'sthisbook.

We're quick to blame ourselves for lack of progress, but slow to blame ourstrategies.Thenwerepeatthemoverandoveragain,tryingtomakethemwork.But here's the thing—if you fail using a particular strategy more than a fewtimes,youneedtotryanotherone.Itdoesn'tmatterifitworksforeveryoneelseifitdoesn'tworkforyou!ThisisalessonIwishIhadlearnedyearsago.

IaskedyoutotouchyournoseearlierbecauseIwantedyoutoprovesomethingtoyourself.First,noticethat there'snorewardfortouchingyournose.Second,considerthatyoudiditanywaybecauseyoucan.Ifyoudidn'tdoit then,doitnow so the following words apply to you (or choose another small action ifyou'reoneofthosestubborntypes).

You were able to touch your nose because the resistance you felt was notstronger than your willpower. Congratulations! You are now Mini Habitsapproved.

Thatwasarudimentaryexerciseinwillpower.Ifyoucanforceyourselftotouchyournose, thenyoucanhavesuccesswiththisbook'sstrategy.I’mnotjoking.ThisbookexistsbecauseIdidonepush-uponDecember28,2012.Myabilitytodo16pull-upsinarowandmyimprovedphysiqueresultfromthatsamepush-up.Ireadandwriteeverysingledaybecauseofthatpush-up.Thatonepush-upwasthefirststepthatleadtoallofthesegreatchangesinmylife.

Every great accomplishment rests on the foundation of what came before it;whenyoutraceitback,you'llseeonesmallstepthatstarteditall.Withoutthatonepush-up,I'dstillbestrugglingtogetmotivatedtogotothegym,andtoreadandwriteconsistently.Thatpush-upleadmetodiscoverthisnewstrategy,whichturnedintothesegreatbenefits.Areyoureadytohearthestoryoftheonesmallactionthatchangedeverythingforme?

HowItBegan:TheOnePush-upChallenge

I'mthinkingaboutnamingit“thegoldenpush-up.”

It was December 28, 2012 and the new year was near. Like many others, Ireflectedon2012andwasnotimpressed.Iwantedtolivebetterin2013;mytopdesirewasfitness.Iwasn'tabouttosetaNewYear’sresolutionthough—Ihaddecidedagainstthemyearsago,becausetheyhaveanabysmal8%successrate.2

IfeltlikeIhadbetteroddsofwinninginLasVegasthaninlife.Eversincemylateryearsofhighschool,Ihadtriedtomakeexerciseahabit.Butfortenyearsit never stuck, despite my efforts. Those aren't the type of results to instillconfidenceinoneself!MymotivationalburststochangewouldusuallylastmeabouttwoweeksbeforeI'dquitforonereasonoranother.Sometimestherewasnoreason;I'djuststop.WantingtodosomethingbeforethearbitraryJanuary1ststartingpointassociatedwith resolutions, Idecided to startbyexercising rightthereonthespotfor30minutes.

ButIstoodmotionless.Icouldn’tgetmotivated.Iwentthroughmyusual“getmotivated”routine.ComeonStephen, truechampionsput in theextrawork. Itried listening toup-tempomusic, visualizingmyselfwith agreat beachbody,etc.Nothingworked.Ifeltoutofshape,lethargic,andworthlesstothepointthatI couldn't do anything.A 30minuteworkout looked likeMount Everest. Theideaofexercisewaswhollyunappealing.Ifeltsodefeated,andIwas.

Itwasn'tjustthetimeortheeffortofa30minuteworkoutthatintimidatedme,itwas the totalamountofworkIneeded toput in to reachmyfitnessdesires. Itwas the vast distance between here and there. A year's worth of workoutsweighedonmymind.Ifeltguilty,overwhelmed,anddiscouragedbeforeIhadevendoneanything!

TheTurningPointMonthsearlier,Ihadreadafantasticcreativethinkingandproblem-solvingbookcalledThinkertoysbyMichaelMichalko.Oneofthecreativethinking“toys”hetalks about is calledFalseFaces. InFalseFaces, you consider the opposite ofwhatyou'recurrentlythinking,andseewhatcreativeideasemergefromthat.Acrude example: instead of building a skyscraper, what if you built a structuredeepintotheearth?Thisgeneratescreativeideasbyforcingyourmindtozoomoutandseethespectrumofpossibilities.

Ihadaproblemtosolve,andthistechniquepoppedintomyhead,soIthoughtabouttheoppositeofa30minuteworkout.EatingicecreamandwatchingTVwouldbeoneoppositeofexercise.ThenIconsideredthatafull30minutesjustseemed like such a huge challenge in that moment (i.e. Everest). Anotheropposite,Iconsidered,couldbethesizeoftheworkout.Whatifinsteadofthisbig30minute commitmentof sweat anddiscomfort, I did a singlepush-up? Iwould have no requirement to do more—just one push-up. It was the trueoppositeofmyMountEverestworkout.

I laughedoff the idea, literally.Howpathetic!Onepush-up isn'tgoing tohelpanything.Ireallyneedtoputinmoreworkthanthat!ButeverytimeIswitchedback tomy first plan, I couldn't do it.After I got tiredof failing todo the30minute workout, I thought,Whatever, I'll do one push-up. I got down on theground,didonepush-up,andchangedmylifeforgood.

WhenIgotintopush-upposition,Inoticeditwasexactlythesameasthestarttoanactual30minuteworkout.Ididmypush-up;myshoulderpopped,myelbowsneededWD-40;itfeltlikemymuscleswerewakingupfroman24yearnap.ButwithoutpauseIdidafewmore,becauseIwasalreadyinposition.Everypush-upwasroughonmyunderusedmusclesandmyanxiousbrain.AsIstoodup,Iconcluded that itwasbetter thannothing.Mindyou, I still felt likequittingatthispoint.ButthenIhadtheideatosetanothersmallchallengeofonepull-up.Itwastooeasytoturndown.Igotmypull-upbarsetupanddidone.ThenIdidafewmore.Interesting,Ithought,thisishard,butnotashardasIwasmakingitouttobe.

My muscles were warming up. My motivation to do more had definitely

increased,butitwassolowtostartwith(andIwassooutofshape)thatIstillhadplentyofinternalresistance.Icontinuedonwiththesamestrategy,goingassmallasnecessarytocontinue.Duringonepush-upsessioninmyworkout,Ihadto set sevenmicro goals like so:ok, onemore, ok, twomore, now onemore.EverytimeIbaitedmyselfwithabeyond-easychallenge,Imetorexceededit.Itfeltnicetomeetagoalforachange.

WhenIfinished,Ihadexercisedfor20minutes,andfeltgreataboutit.Usuallyatthispointinaworkout,I'dcompleteatenminuteabexercisevideo.Whenthethoughtcrossedmymind,mybrainpromptlyshotitdownlikeadigitalbirdinthevideogameDuckHunt,saying,youhadyourfun,butdon'tpushyourluck.ButyoucanprobablyguesswhatIdidnext. Idecided tosetupmyfloormat.Brainacceptedthat.ThenIdecidedtofindanabvideo.Brainaccepted.ThenIdecidedtopressplay.10minuteslater,myabswereablaze.It'simportanttonotethat thesewere individual decisions.At nopoint did I have the fullweight ofcompletinga10minuteab-rippingprogramonmymind.IfIhad,Iwouldhaveneverdoneit.

ThedayafterIhadturnedonepush-upinto theimpossible-seeming30minuteworkout,Iwrote“TheOnePush-upChallenge.”It turnedintooneofmymostpopular posts to date. I still receivemessages frompeople tellingmehow it'shelpedthemtoexerciseconsistently.

As 2013 went on, I continued to require one push-up per day from myself.Usually,Ididmorethanone.ButonedayIforgotuntilIwasalreadyinbed.SoIflippedoverontomystomachanddidmyonepush-upinbed.Ilaughedatthethought of meeting the daily requirement at the last second. It soundsmeaningless,butitactuallyfeltamazingtosucceedsoeasilyandkeepthestreakalive.Later,Iwouldseehowimportantthiswasformysuccess.

Inoticedtwothings.First,justafewpush-upsadaydoesmakeadifferenceinhow you feel, physically and mentally. I felt stronger and my muscles werebetterconditioned.Second,Irealizedthatexercisewasbecominghabitual;evenwith such a wimpy challenge, I was doing something every day. Regularworkoutswerebecomingeasier.With thispositiveexperienceundermybelt, Iwascuriouswhethera scientificexplanationexisted forwhysuper small steps

were working better for me than larger goals. Research showed that there isindeed,andyou'llseeitpepperedthroughoutthisbook.There'snosinglestudythatsays“minihabitsaretheanswer.”Instead,thisphilosophyofhabit-buildingrests on the shoulders of dozens of studies that have revealed the nature ofwillpowerandthebrain,andwhatittakestotakeconsistentaction.

Starting in lateJune, Imade the jumpfromhometogym,andI'vebuilta fewpoundsofmusclesincethen.OnSeptember20th,Irealizedthepotentialofthisformula for other areas of my life, such as reading and writing. I've amazedmyselfsincethenbyincreasingmyproductivityandstayingingreatshape.Allof the thingsI'vebeenwantingarehappeningnow.Recently, I’veevenstartedeatingmegasaladsjustbecauseIwanttodoit.Whenyouinvestinyourselfinkeyareaslikefitnessandlearning,youtendtodoitinotherareastoo.

ForGoodHabitsOnly

Beforewegetanyfurther,Iwantyoutounderstandthatthisbookwillnothelpyou quit smoking or control a gambling addiction. Mini habits are for goodhabits only—adding positive behaviors to your life to enrich it for years.Breakingbadhabitsandmakinggoodhabitsdohavethesamegoal—replacingadefault behavior with a better behavior. With bad habits, your primarymotivation for change is an away response from something bad. With goodhabits, your primarymotivation for change is a toward response to somethinggood.Minihabitsfocusesonthetowardresponse.

Changing deeply-rooted active bad habits like substance addiction involves adifferent psychological process and may require professional assistance. Thatsaid,ifyou'relookingforalong-termplaytohelpwithpassivebadhabitssuchlaziness, fear, or wasting time, then this book can help you tremendously.Passivebadhabitscanoftenbemarginalizedbyincorporatinggoodhabits intoyour life.Howcanyoucontinuewithyourbadhabits ifyouspendallofyourtimeongoodones?Andhonestly,addinggoodhabitsthiswayisprettyeasytodo.Quickfixesareoftenbogus,butwhenyou'veliterallybeenfightingagainstyourbrain for adecade (ormore for someofyou), thena strategy thatworkswith your brain will be easy in comparison. With the right knowledge andstrategy to change, what previously seemed impossible becomes ratherstraightforward and possible. It's like trying to open a locked door—it's onlyeasyifyouhavetherightkey(orarealocksmithorthief,butnowtheanalogyistoocomplicated).

Thatsaid,thosecoveredindarkness(probablybecauseoftheirbadhabits)needlight in their life too. If your life is a completemess of bad habits, adding insomegoodhabitscanchangeyou.Darkness isnotsomethingthatexistsonitsown—it's thenamewegive for theabsenceof light.Perhapspeoplehavebadhabitsbecausetheylackthe lightofgoodhabits,whichpermitsadarkvoidintheir life. When you add good habits into your life, it illuminates another

possiblepath,restoresyourconfidence,andgivesyouhope.Italsoservesasabrilliantfoundationfromwhichtobuild.

This informationdoubles as a life philosophy that demonstrates, explains, andcelebratesthatthefirststepforwardisalwaysthemostimportantone…byfar.Inotherwords, it canhelpyou inother areasbesidesyourhabits. I don'tmerelyhopethatthisbookwillhelpyou,I'mconfidentthatitwill…asconfidentasIamthatmostpeople’sNewYear'sresolutionswillfail.Thatis,it'sahighstatisticalprobability.Withminihabits,youcanjointheranksofpeoplewhochangetheirlivesinthemostunbelievableway.

ABriefSynopsisOfMiniHabits

Since I refer tomini habits throughout the book, Iwant to briefly explain theconcept.Amini habit is basically amuch smaller version of a new habit youwant to form. 100 push-ups daily is minified into one push-up daily.Writing3,000wordsdailybecomeswriting50wordsdaily.Thinkingpositivelyall thetimebecomesthinkingtwopositivethoughtsperday.Livinganentrepreneuriallifestyle becomes thinking of two ideas per day (among other entrepreneurialthings).

ThefoundationoftheMiniHabitssystemisin“stupidsmall”steps.Theconceptof small steps is nothing new, but how and why they work have not beenadequatelydissected.Ofcourse,smallstepsarerelativetoo;asmallstepforyoucouldbeagiantleapforme.Saying“stupidsmall”clarifiesit,becauseifastepsoundsstupidrelativetothemostyoucando,it'sperfect.

The power of theMini Habits system is in the application, mindset, built-inpositive feedback looping, naturally increasing self-efficacy, and of course,leveragingsmall steps intohabits.Thiswillbeexplained,but it'salsobuilt in;it'sasimplesystemwithacomplex,smartbacking.

Thewayweactontheseminihabitsisbyusingasmallamountofwillpowertoforce ourselves to do something. It doesn't take a lot of willpower to do onepush-uporcomeupwithacoupleofideas.

The benefit from following theMiniHabits system is surprisingly big results.First,there'sagreatchancethatyou'lldo“bonusreps”afteryoumeetyoursmallrequirement. This is because we already desire these positive behaviors, andstartingthemreducesinternalresistance.Thesecondbenefitistheroutine.Evenifyoudon'texceedyoursmallrequirement,thebehaviorwillbegintobecomea(mini)habit.Fromthere,dobonusrepsorscalethehabitup.Anotherbenefitisconstantsuccess.Abankmaybetoobigtofail,butminihabitsaretoosmallto

fail;andso they lack thecommondestructivefeelingsofguiltand inadequacythatcomewithgoalfailure.Thisisoneoftheveryfewsystemsthatpracticallyguarantees success every day thanks to a potent encouragement spiral andalways-attainable targets.Minihabitshavemademe feelunstoppable;prior tostartingminihabits,Ifeltunstartable.

To summarize, amini habit is aVERYsmall positive behavior that you forceyourself todoeveryday.Small stepsworkevery time,andhabitsarebuiltbyconsistency, so the twoweremeant to be together.Hey, it’s still a better lovestorythanTwilight.

AboutHabitsAndTheBrain

Why not just use small steps in daily life?Well, you absolutely should! Buthabitsaretheframeworkofyourlife,sotoignorethemisaprettybigmistake.WhenIdiscoveredthepowerofsmallstepsfromtheOnePush-upChallenge,Ifelt like a superhero who had just discovered his superpower and wondered,HowcanIusethisforthegreatestgood?Habitsweretheanswer.

Thisbookfocusesonusingsmallstepsforhabitsbecausethereisnothingmoreimportantthanyourhabits.ADukeUniversitystudyconcludedthatabout45%ofourbehaviorisfromhabit.3Theyareevenmoreimportantthanthis45%stakesuggests,becausehabitsarefrequentlyrepeatedbehaviors(oftendaily),andthisrepetitionaddsuptobigbenefitsorbigdamageinthelongrun.

Thehabitofwriting1,000wordsperdaywouldresultin365,000wordswrittenayear.That'sequaltoseven50,000wordnovels.ThoughitwouldbeshyofLeoTolstoy's580,000+wordbehemothWarandPeace (that guy sure had a lot tosay).

Considertheseclassicnovelsthatweighinatabout50,000wordseach:

• DouglasAdams'TheHitchhiker'sGuideToTheGalaxy(46,333words)

• StephenCrane'sTheRedBadgeOfCourage(50,776words)

• F.ScottFitzgerald'sTheGreatGatsby(50,061words)

Now,youmaynotwriteanovelof suchworld renownon the first try (or thefirst 100), but if youwrite sevenper year, you'll havequite a fewattempts toperfectyourcraft,right?

Morepotentiallylife-changinghabits:

• Thehabitofexercising20minutesadayisenoughtochangeyourphysique.

• Thehabitofeatinghealthierfoodsmayaddyearstoyourlife(andgiveyoumorevitalitythroughout).

• Thehabitofrisingonehourearliereachmorningtoreadwouldgiveyou365extra hoursmore per year.At the average reading speed of 300words perminute,thisextratimewouldallowyoutoread6,570,000words,or131more50,000 word books per year. That's a LOT of books, and a sure way toincreaseyourknowledge.

There are also less concrete examples such as thinking positively and beinggrateful, that can have a dramatic impact on your life.Withmini habits, this“store”oflifeperksisnowopenforbusiness.Chooseyourfavoritehabitsandaddthemtoyourcart.Formoreminihabitideas,visitminihabits.com.Butwait,comebackhere!You'vegottofinishthebookbeforeyougettoocarriedaway.There'simportantinformationaheadthatwillhelpyousucceed.

***

Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines a habit as “a usual way of behaving :somethingthatapersondoesofteninaregularandrepeatedway.”SinceItendtothinkintermsofresistanceandwillpower,Isayit’s“abehaviorthat'seasiertodothannottodo.”

Habitsarenotdirectlyaccessible—youcan'timmediatelycreateorremoveonerightnow.Theyaremoldedovertimebyrepetition.

WhatDoHabitsLookLikeInTheBrain?

Neuralpathwaysarecommunicationchannels in thebrain,andthesepathwaysarewhathabits“looklike”inthephysicalworld.

Here's how itworks: once a habit's assigned neural pathway is triggered by athought or external cue, an electrical charge fires along the pathway in yourbrain,andyou'llhaveanurgeorthoughttoengageinthehabitualbehavior.Forexample, if you take a shower immediately after waking up every day, you'llhave a neural pathway associated with that behavior. You'll wake up, the“shower neurons” will fire, and you'll walk to the shower like a zombie—nothinkingrequired!Thisisthemagicandthecurseofhavinghabits,dependingonif they are good or bad. As a habit becomes more ingrained, the associatedneuralpathwaywillliterallygetthickerandstronger.Yikes!

Knowing this information simplifies and clarifies our goal.Wewant to createandstrengthenspecificneuralpathwayswithrepetition.Itsoundseasywhenputthisway, butwe'll have to overcome innate human limitations to do it.Manystandard habit strategies you'll find don't take these proven limitations intoaccount, underestimate how severe they are, or make vague and unhelpfulstatements like, “it's going to be hard, you've got towant it.”Without a solidplantohandletheselimitations,you'llsufferfromburnoutorinconsistencyandgive up early, even if you go in “fired up.” Can you tell I'm a bit anti-motivational?That'sbecauseitfailedmefortenyears,butwe'llgettothatlater.

HabitsAreAMatterOfLifeAnd...Stress?Whilewe'rediscussingtheimportanceofhabits,considerstress.

Today'sworldrunsatafasterpacethaneverbeforeandweallseemtobemorestressed out as a result. Life is imperfect, and its impossible to navigate itwithoutsomestress.Thequestionthatmostpeopleneverthinktoaskis,“howdoesstressimpactmyhabits?”

Stresshasbeenshowntoincreasehabitualbehavior—forbetterorworse!Twoexperiments atUCLA and one atDukeUniversity found that stress increasedpeople'sgravitationtowardhabitualbehavior.BasedonherstudyintheJournalofPersonalityandSocialPsychology,4ProfessorWendyWoodargues:“Peoplecan’t make decisions easily when stressed, are low in willpower or feeling

overwhelmed.Whenyouaretootiredtomakeadecision,youtendtojustrepeatwhat you usually do.”5 This holds true for both good and bad habits and is acrucialinsightfortheirimportanceinourlives.

Justimagineforasecondnowwhatcanhappenifyourbadhabitsstressyouout.It's the perfect recipe for a negative feedback loop.Your stress triggers a badhabit, which triggers guilt, internal angst, andmore stress, which triggers thehabit again. But now imagine what could happen if your habits are naturallystress-relieving,suchasexercise.Inthiscase,yourstresswillchauffeuryoutothe gym, and the exercise will help you to relieve tension. The difference inimpactonyour life ismind-blowing, asoneputsyou in apositiveposition tosucceeddespite life'sharshoccurrences,while theotherconstantlythreatenstodropyouintoanegativespiral.Beingafootballfan,Ithinkofthebigswingsingameswhereoneteamisabouttoscoreatouchdownfromtheoneyardline,butthe quarterback throws an interception that the other team returns for atouchdown. That's not just seven points for the other team, it takes away theprobablesevenpointshisteamwasgoingtogain!It'sa14-pointswing.Becauseofstress,allhabitstendtobe“14-pointswings.”

The other implication this has for us is in the difficulty of change. Higheramounts of stress make it more challenging for us to change our lives. AsProfessorWood says, “you tend to just repeatwhat you usually do.” If stressmakesusruntoourhabits,thenitalsomakesusrunawayfromeverythingelse,including that new positive behavior thatwe'd like tomake into a habit. Youcan'tseeit,butI'msmilingrightnow.Thestandardhabitformulacrumbleswhenwe're stressed because our existing habits get stronger, but theMini Habitssystemwon'tfailyouhere.

HowLongDoesItTakeToFormANewHabit?It depends. Anyone who tells you differently is repeating what they've heard(whichiswrong).

ItisNOT21or30days.ForPete'sandeveryoneelse'ssake,Iwanttoputthisup on every billboard! The 21-day habit myth was possibly started by Dr.MaxwellMaltz,aplasticsurgeon.Dr.Maltzreportedlyfoundthatamputeestookabout21daystogetusedtothelossofalimb.Sohearguedthat21daysishow

longittakesforpeopletoadjusttoanylifechanges.Really,Doc?Iwouldarguethatcopingwithlosingalimbandtryingtodrinkmorewaterarenotthesametypeofexperience.AndI'lladdthatthey'rebothquitedifferentfromtryingtodo150push-upsaday.

Themost-citedviablestudyonhabitformationdurationwaspublishedin2009in the European Journal Of Social Psychology.6 Each participant chose an“eating,drinkingoractivitybehaviortocarryoutdailyinthesamecontext(forexample‘afterbreakfast’)for12weeks.”Andwhatdidtheyfind?

Theaveragetimeforabehaviortobecomehabitwas66days.Buttherangewaswild,from18to254days,showingthatthereishugevariationinpeople'stimetoreachhabitautomaticity,andthatitcanenduptakingaverylongtimeinsomecases.21and30daychallengesarepopular,butthey'rehighlyunlikelytoformmanytypesofhabits.Drinkingaglassofwatereverydaycouldfall intothe21daywindow,butsomethingmorechallenginglike100sit-upsdailycouldtakeacouplehundreddaysormoretobecomehabit.

That's thebadnews.Thegoodnews is thathabits aren't snapon, snapoff—ifyoudo100sit-upsfor60days,day61willbemucheasierforyouthandayonewas, even if it isn't completely automaticyet.Building ahabit is like riding abikeupasteepinclinethatlevelsout,peaks,andgoesdown.Tostart,youhavetopushwithalltheforceyourlegscanmuster.Itgetsprogressivelyeasierafterthat,butyoumustkeeppedalinguntilyoureachthetopofthehilloryou'llgobackwardsandloseyourprogress.

Inmyexperience,thefirstsignofhabitformationisdecreasedresistance,whichmakes perfect sense. Our mind communicates internally by sending electricalimpulses through these neural pathways, and we know that electricity alwaystakesthepathofleastresistance.Likethisconcept,ourbrainpreferstoperformhabits because they have existing pathways and known rewards. But newbehaviorsareunproven,risky,andhavenoneuralpathway.Sowhenyoudon'thavea solidpathway for thisbehavioryet, youhave tomanuallyoverride thetypical behavior. As you do it more, the “baby neural pathway” will start togrow,andovertime,itwillcompetewiththepreviousbehavior.

Asfortheprocess,itdoesn'tmatterhowlongahabittakesyoutoformbecausethe goal is to do it forever anyway. Why would you want to exercise for 6months andquitwhenyou reachedyour goal?Wouldn't it be disheartening toregress after that point? What really matters is recognizing the signs of abehaviorbecomingahabit,afterwhichyoucanswitchyourfocustosomethingelseandstillmaintainthebehavior.

One more interesting note from the 2009 study: researchers concluded thatmissing a day did not derail a habit, physiologically speaking; one day didn'tmakeorbreaktheprocess.Butpsychologically,missingadaycanbeaproblemifyouletit.It'sbetternottomissaday,butkeepthisfactinmindifyoudo;itmightstopyoufromgettingdiscouragedandlosingyourprogress.

HowYourBrainWorks

“Iamabrain,Watson.Therestofmeisamereappendix.”―ArthurConanDoyle(SherlockHolmes,TheAdventureoftheMazarinStone)

In this chapter, I've taken the liberty of slicing the brain up into two differententities—thesubconsciousbrainandtheconsciousbrain.Thebrainisfarmorecomplexthanthatwithmanyparts,butforourpurposes,thisissufficient.

Let this next point seep into the deepest depths of yourmind and lodge therepermanently.Neverforgetthis:

Repetitionisthelanguageofthe(subconscious)brain.

(hint: If you repeat it, youwon't forget it. And there's the first and last brainjoke.)

Thegoalincreatinghabitsistochangeyourbrainwithrepetition.Butthebrainwillresistchangesunlesstheyrewardithandsomely.Soreally,thetwokeystohabitchangeasfarasthebrainisconcernedarerepetitionandreward.Itwillbemorewillingtorepeatsomethingwhenthereisareward.

Haveyoueverdrivenacarwithoutpowersteering?Youhavetoturnthewheel

severalrotationsjusttogetasmallresponsefromthecar.Ourbrainsrespondtochange like carswithout power steering. Each iteration results in a negligibledifference, but repeated consistently, these small alterations can create a bigchangeinyourbrain(andyourlife).

Yoursubconsciousbrainlovesefficiency;thisiswhywehavehabits.Whenyourepeatabehaviorovertime,yourbrainlearnstoautomatetheprocess.It'smoreenergy efficient to automatically do something than to manually weigh youroptionsanddecidetoactthesamewayeverytime.Whenyoumakeadecisionvery quickly, it is probably from habit, even if you think you're activelydeciding.Inaway,youmadethedecisionawhileago.Choosingyourfavoriteicecreamflavorisoneexample.

Slow-Changing,StableBrains

Thehumanbrain isslow-changingandstable; ithasroutinesandaframeworkthatallowittorespondconsistentlytotheworld.Havingaslow-changingbrainis frustrating at times, but overall, it's highly beneficial. Imagine if yourpersonalityandlifecouldtransformovernight—youwouldgocrazy!

Onceyousuccessfullydevelopnewhealthyhabits, everythingbecomeseasier.You can get up, eat your healthy breakfast, and go to the gymeverymorningautomaticallyinsteadofconductingadrawn-outbattlewithyourbrain.Youcandotherightthingswithlittleeffort.Formany,thisfeelslikeadaydream.Theyonly know the dark side of stability: how the brain compels them to eat junkfood,watchTV,smoke,andbitetheirnails.Butgoodhabitsareasamazingasbadhabitsaredreadful.

I know exercise is a habit forme becausemy identity has changedwith it. Itwouldfeeloddandunsatisfyinginathat’snotmekindofwayifIdidn’tgotothegymafewtimesperweek.Lastyear,however,myidentitywasasapersonwhodidjustenoughtostayinaverageshape.Bothscenariosemergefromhabit.Since45%ofourbehaviorisautomaticregardlessofwhatwedo,wemightaswellmake itbeneficial toour livesandgoals. Inorder todo that expertly,weneedtounderstandthetwoprimaryplayersinthebrain.

AStupidRepeater&ASmartManager

Mostofyourbrainisstupid.Well,notyoursspecifically—acertainpartofeveryhumanbrainisstupid,inthesensethatitdoesn'tconsiderlungcancerwhileyousmokeor the perks of great abs before you exercise.Worse, this is the strongpartofyourbrainthatusuallygetsitswaylongterm.Itrecognizesandrepeatspatternsuntiltoldotherwise.It'scalledthebasalganglia.

There isanothersectionofyourbrain,however, that is reallysmart. It'scalledthe prefrontal cortex and it's located behind your forehead. It's the “manager”thatunderstandslong-termbenefitsandconsequencesandthankfully,ithastheabilitytooverridethebasalganglia.Ithandlesshort-termthinkinganddecision-makingtoo.

Just now, we've covered the two critical tools involved in habit change—thebasal ganglia and the prefrontal cortex. I like thewayPsychologistDr.DavidNowelldifferentiatestheprefrontalcortexfromtherestofthebrain.Hesaysthateverythingexcept theprefrontalcortexdetermines“what is”andtheprefrontalcortexfocuseson“whatcouldbe.”

Theonlywaytocreatehabitsistoteachtherestofyourbraintolikewhattheprefrontalcortexwants.Theprefrontalcortexiswhatresistschocolatecake(ifatall possible),wants to learnFrench,wants tobe fit, andwould like towrite abooksomeday.It'stheconsciouspartofyourbrainthatyou'didentifyas“you.”But the problem is that tires out easily. Perhaps more accurately, because itsfunctionsaresopowerful, it'sanenergyhog that tiresyouout.Andwhenyoutireout(orarestressed,aswecovered),therepetitiousparttakesover.

Thebasalgangliaisn'tconsciousorawareofhigher-levelgoalsthatareuniquetohumans.Butitisanefficientpattern-repeaterthatsavesusenergy.Sowhileitmaynotbe“intelligent” liketheprefrontalcortex, it isanincrediblyimportantpartof thebrain.Andoncewe train thebasalganglia todopositivebehaviors

automatically,we'rereallygoingtoloveit.

Thisisthesystemweallhavetoworkwith.Itsoundspoorlydesignedatfirst,asthesmartprefrontalcortexhaslessstaminathanthethoughtless,repeatingbasalgangliadoes,butit'sactuallybrilliantwhenyouknowhowtoworkit.Howdocleverweaklingseverovercometheirdumb,strongcounterparts?I'llgiveyouahint—it's not through brute physical force. I'm sure you already know that,perhaps because you are now recalling the failed attempts of your consciousmind to control your subconscious mind by brute force or willpower. Theanswer, of course, is to employ smart strategies to overcome the prefrontalcortex'snaturalweaknesses.

ThePrefrontalCortex—YourDefenseAgainstAutomatedBehavior

Inorder tounderstand theprefrontalcortexbetter,we'regoing to lookatwhathappenswhen it'sgone.Howdoesabrainoperatewithoutone?Notwell.Theupcomingstudyshowswhattheprefrontalcortexdoes,aswellaswhattherestofthebraindoes.Whenyouremovesomething,youcanseetheimpactofwhatitdidandalsohowthepartsoperatewithoutitsinfluence.

Francois Lhermitte was a French neurologist who examined patients withdamagedfrontallobes.Whathefoundinthefollowingstudywasevidencethatthe brain’s operation changes drastically without its “manager,” the prefrontalcortex(whichispartofthefrontallobes).7

There are two groups of interest in Lhermitte's study—people with damagedfrontal lobes and people with healthy frontal lobes. In the experiment, thesubjectswould sit across from an examiner and ask interview-style questions.The examiner’s task was to display indifference to the interviewer, refuse torespond to their questions, and occasionally perform random and puzzlinggestures.He'dthumbhisnose,giveamilitarysalute,foldpaperandputitintoanenvelope, chew paper, sing, tap his leg, whimper, and more. (Ha! Science isfun[ny]!)Here'swhattheyfound.

Healthy-lobedpeople, asonewouldexpect, foundhisbehaviorodd. Inpurelyscientific terms, theresponsewas“what'swrongwiththisdude?”Manyof theyounger participants laughed.Andwhen asked if they thought to imitate him,theysaid,“no,notatall.”8

But here's where it gets very interesting. Almost all people with frontal lobedamagedidimitatetheexaminer'sabsurdgestures—theyimitatedhimwithgreatprecisionandwithoutfail.Forexample,themenwillinglyurinatedonawallinfront of otherswithout any hint of surprise or concern.When they lacked the

ability to imitatehimexactly (suchasnothavingpaper to foldor chew), theyweresaidtofindwaystocompensate“perfectly.”9

From the study: “When interviewed after an examination, all [damaged lobe]patientscouldremembertheexaminer’sgesturesand,whenquestionedastothereasonfortheirimitativebehavior,repliedthatbecausetheexaminerhadmadethegesture, they felt theyhad to imitatehim.Onbeing told that theyhadnotbeen told to imitate the gestures, their answer was that obviously since thegestureshadbeenmade,theymustbeimitated.Afterbeingtoldnottoimitate,mostpatientsdisplayedthesameIB(imitationbehavior).”10

Thosewithdamagedfrontallobescouldn'thelpbutimitatetheinterviewer(evenwhen asked not to). With damaged frontal lobes, it appears people lose theability to make “override” decisions over their subconscious mind. Thesubconsciousisalmostlikeadifferententity,amachine.Alsointerestingisthatthe normal participants forgot someof the gestures of the examiner, but thosewithdamagedfrontallobesrememberedeverysingleone.Thissuggeststhatthepresenceofhealthy frontal lobes (which again, contain the essential prefrontalcortex)stealssomeofourfocusawayfromsubconsciouspatternrecognitionandcaninhibitorinitiatebehavior.Thisiswhywecallitthe“manager.”Itoverseesautomated operations and steps inwhen it sees something that could be donebetter.Nowfortheflipside—whathappenswhenit'sthebasalgangliathatisn'tfunctioningproperly?

TheBasalGanglia—YourPatternDetector

Your brain's basal ganglia is technically a group of nuclei that act as a singleunit,andplaysacentralroleinhabitformationandprocedurallearning.

Butresearchalsoindicatesthatthebrain'smanysystemsinteractwitheachotherincomplexwaysandthebasalgangliacan'tnecessarilybeisolatedasbeing“thehabitpartofthebrain.”11Neuroscience,whilehelpful,cannotcompletelyexplainexactly how the brainworks. That's not to say it's deceitful or inaccurate, butratherasmallglimpseintoabigmystery.Thebrain'sworkingsaresointricateandcomplexthatmodernsciencestillhasalottolearn.Thatsaid,knowingthebasal ganglia is themain player in habit formation is useful.When combinedwithexperience,experimentation,andgoodsense,ourlimitedknowledgeofthebrain'sworkingsisapowerfulallyforpersonalgrowth.

Lhermitte'sstudyonpeoplewithdysfunctionalordamagedfrontallobesshowedus the importanceof theexecutive functionof thebrain,whichcanpreventusfromroboticallydoingundesirablethings.Butwhathappenswhenit'sthebasalgangliathat'sdamagedorfunctioningimproperly?There'sastudyonthattoo.Itsuggeststhatadamagedormalfunctioningbasalgangliacausesyoutoloseyourabilitytohaveanyhabits.12

Researchers gathered people of three classifications—healthy people,Parkinson's disease patients, and those with memory problems. Parkinson’sdiseasepatientsare thosewhosebrainsstruggle todeliver theneurotransmitterdopaminetothebasalgangliaduetocelldeath.Thiscausesdysfunctionofthebasalganglia.

Participantswere given four cardswith random shapes on them, and asked topredictwhethereachcardmeant rainorsunshine. Itwouldbeverydifficult toconsciously form relationships between the cards and results, but therewas asubtlepatternthatcouldbepickedupsubconsciously.Therewere50trials,and

after about ten trials, both normal participants and memory loss participantsgradually improved their guessing percentage from 50% to 65-70%; theirsubconsciousmindpickedup thepatterns that suggested rainorsunshine.TheParkinson'sdiseaseparticipants,however,didnotimprovefrom50%.Withoutahealthybasalganglia,theirbraincouldn'tdetectpatterns(andthus,itwouldbehardforthemtodevelopnewhabits).

From these studies, we can see the brain is, in vastly oversimplified terms, atwo-part system of executive decision-making and pattern-recognition forautomatedbehaviors.Themanagementfunctionsoftheprefrontalcortexcanbedynamicand responsive,but theyuseupa lotof energy (andwillpower).Theautomationfunctionsofthebasalgangliaareeffectiveandefficient.Theysaveusenergyandtakecareoftasksthatdon'tneedconstantmonitoring.

Thisleadsintothenextimportantconsideration—howdowegetourselvestodothingsconsistentlywiththesetwobraincomponents?

Before a behavior becomes habit, the two ways to get yourself going aremotivation and willpower. Before you read this next chapter, say your finalgoodbyestomotivation,becauseyou'renotgoingtoneeditanymore.

MotivationVs.Willpower

"Emotionswilleitherserveormaster,dependingonwhoisincharge."—JimRohn

I'mabouttounleashfuryonmotivationasastartingstrategy,butmotivationandwillpoweraren'tsuch“eitheror”strategies.Theyhaveanimportantrelationshipwitheachotherthatthechartbelowshows.ThebasicpremiseofthischapterisNOTthatmotivationisabadthing,butthatit'sanunreliablestrategyforlastingchange.

Now,beforeyouinterruptmetoask,“Hey,wherearetheminihabits?”givemeamoment toexplain. I’vecreatedasimplecharton thenextpage toshowtherelationshipbetweenwillpowerandmotivation.

Chartexplanation:Motivationisthex-axis,andwillpowercostisthey-axis.Whenmotivationisatitspeak(lowerrightcorner),willpowercostiszeroornegligible.That'sbecauseyoudon'tneedtoforceyourselftodosomethingyoualreadyreallywanttodo.Butwhenmotivationdropstozero,stronginternalresistancemeansthatthewillpower“cost”ishigh(upperleftcorner,wherewillpowercostis100andmotivationis0).

Moreabout this relationshipwillbediscussed in thewillpowersection,butallyouneedtoknowfornowisthatwhenyou'renotmotivatedtodosomething,the“willpower cost” skyrockets. And when willpower cost is high, it makes it

difficultforyoutosustainabehaviorovertime(andbuilditintoahabit).

Now, let's take a hard look at “gettingmotivated,”which dominates self-helpliteraturedespitebeingcompletelyineffectivelongterm.

TheManyProblemsWith“GettingMotivated”

Doesgettingmotivatedwork?Theanswerisamaddeningsometimes.Attimes,you can conjureup themotivation to exerciseorwrite 2,000words, but othertimes, youmight end up taking a nap,watchingTV, or drinking beer instead.Thisisahugeproblembecause…

Ifgettingmotivatedisyourstrategy,youcan’tbuildhabits.

Weknowthathabitsrequireconsistentrepetition.Itwasn’tuntilthe10thtrial inthepriorstudythatparticipants’brainspickedupthepattern,andbehaviorstakemuchlongerthanthattoberecognized.

Don'tgetmewronghere.Motivationisanimportantfeelingwithmanybenefits.Butthinkofitasabonus,somethingnicewhenitappears.Iknowsomeofyoucurrentlyrelyongettingmotivated,sothisnextsection'saimistoconvinceyoutodropit.Igenuinelywantyoutodisowntheconceptforyourowngood,andherearethereasonswhy.

MotivationIsUnreliableMotivation isunreliablebecause it’sbasedonhowyoufeel,andwe’veknownforcenturies thathumanfeelingsare fluidandunpredictable.Many thingscanalter your feelings: an event, blood sugar levels, depression, chemicalfluctuations, hormones, health, external stimuli, energy levels, beliefs, and catvomit. Inotherwords,anything canalteryour feelings.Doyou reallywant toplaceyourhopesonsomethingso...volatile?The#1ruleofanyfoundation isthat itmustbesolid.Motivation is likebuildingahouseon liquid. (Don’tyoudarementionhouseboats—itruinstheanalogy.)

Everyonehas“off”dayswhenenergyisabitlower.Thatmeansyourmotivationtodoproductivethingswillbelowertoo.Thisstrategymakesusresorttothings

likemotivationalvideos,articles,selfpep-talks,andothershort-termboosts.

Andthinkaboutthis:witha“getmotivated”strategy,notonlydoyouhavetobemotivatedtodosomething,butyouhavetobemostmotivatedtodoit.So,togetmotivatedtoexercise,youwouldhavetowanttoexercisemorethanyouwanttoeatchipsandwatchTV.You'llonlysucceedsometimes.

Theactivitiesthataregoodforus(eatingrawbroccoli,running8miles,andtheneatingmorebroccoli)arenotthekindsofthingsthatareeasytogetmotivatedtodo.Theshort-termrewardsofrawbroccoliandexercisehaveareallyhardtimecompetingwithicecreamonthecouchwhilewatchingamovie.Mymotivationtodothelatterstayshigh.

YouWon'tAlwaysWantToGetMotivatedThemotivationtheoryofgrowthgoeslikethis:ifIwanttodosomething,Idon'tneed to force myself to do it (use willpower)! That's true. When you'remotivated, it'seasytodothings,anditdoesn't requiremuch, ifanywillpower.Remember the chart at the beginning of this chapter? When you’re fullymotivated,willpowercostiszero.Thisseemslikethebestwayatfirst,andevenmoresowhenyouconsiderthatwillpowerisalimitedresource(coveredlater).Thismakesmotivationhighlydesirable in theory, but as they say, “every rosehas its thorns, which cut your finger and make you curse in front of yournephew.”

Problem:motivationisnoteasy(andsometimesnearlyimpossible) tocultivateondemand.Looknofurtherthanyourownexperiencestoverifythis.Howeasyhas it been tomotivateyourselfwhenyou're tired, sick,haveaheadache, feel“off,”orjustreallywanttodosomethingelsemorefun?Thisideaofchangingwhat you desire just by focusing on benefits really discredits the power andinfluenceofhowwefeel.It'shardtochangeyourfeelingsbythinking.It'swhenwehave a lot of energy, a healthymindset, andnomajor temptations thatwesucceed with motivation. But when the time comes to act and the scenarioappearsfarlessfavorable,we'lldecideto“doittomorrow.”

WhenIwastiredandhadaheadacherecently,therewasnomotivationalphraseor thought thatwasgoing tomakemeworkon thisbook. Ididn'twant toget

motivatedeither.Iwantedtosleep!Thankfully,Ididn'trelyonmotivation.

Therewill be times inyour life that youwon't bemotivated togetmotivated.This means that you… bear with me here…don’t want to want to want toexercise. (Yes, thatwas three “want tos” in a row!)Thatgivesyoua senseofhow far away from taking action you can getwithmotivation-based thinking.Insteadof justdoingsomething,youhave towant todo it,butsometimesyouhavebuildupmotivationjusttowanttobemotivated.It’severybitascrazyasitsounds. If you don’t want to get motivated, and getting motivated was yourstrategyfordoingthings,youhavelostthebattlebeforeithasbegun.Andyourhabitswilldieyoung.

SomePeopleHabituallyThinkMotivationIsTheOnlyBasisForTakingActionAsgettingmotivatedhasbeenestablishedbyparrotingself-helpwritersasTHEwaytogetyourselftotakeactionandimproveyourlife,fewpeoplequestionit.It'sstandardprocedure.Motivationalwebsitesaboundandthriveaspeoplevisitthem for their “motivational fix.” I’ll admit that getting motivated is a betterstrategythannothing,butnothingisn'thardtobeat.

The desired effect of exercise, as an example, has three possible causes:motivation, willpower, or habit. Though every action is some combination ofmotivationandwillpower,wetendtorelymoreononeortheother.Thenthereis thatweird hybrid of trying to getmotivatedwhile sayingyouhave to do itanyway(itusuallycomestothiswhenthebattleislost).

Adestructivehabittohaveisbelievingthatyouhavetobemotivatedtoact.It’snot a problem when youwould like to be motivated, but when you can't doanything unless you’re motivated. This is the perfect way to enter a lazinessspiral.Being lazymakesyou feel lazy,and ifyoualways feel lazyand followthismotivationrule,thenyou'llcontinuetobelazy.There'snowayout!

This idea thatmotivation precedes action can become deeply ingrained into aperson's psyche. But there's no rule that says your feelings and actions mustalwaysmatch.Itcreatesaconfining,frustratinglifestyle.

MotivationSetsUsUpForFailureThroughTheLawOfDecreasingEnthusiasmOk, let's just say thatyou'reable togetmotivated to read for twohourseveryday.Andsay thatyou'reable todo this for threeweeksstraight.At thispoint,you'd likely have a very weak habit beginning to form for this behavior. Butsinceyou'vebeenrelyingonmotivation,thiscrucialtransitionperiodwilllikelymeantheendofyourprogress.

“The law of decreasing enthusiasm” isn't a real law, but a term I made upbecauseitismoredescriptivethanthecorrespondingeconomicprinciple:“TheLawofDiminishingMarginalUtility.”Thiseconomic lawsaysyouwillenjoyyour5thsliceofpizzamarginallylessthanyour4thslice,andyour4thslicelessthan your 3rd. When it comes to behavior repetition, the same sort of thinghappens.

As a behavior begins its transition into habit, youwill become less emotionalabout it. Itwill evenbegin to seemboring andmundane.Count on it. JeremyDeansays inhisbook,MakingHabits,BreakingHabits, that “Ahabit doesn’tjustflyunder theradarcognitively; italsodoessoemotionally.[...]Theactofperforming a habit is curiously emotionless.” 13 Dr.Wood and her colleaguesnoted this occurrence in a study they conducted at Texas A&M. Whenparticipantsperformedahabitualbehavior, theyweredecidedly lessemotionalaboutit.14Thisiswhythinkingyouneedmotivationtotakeactionworksagainstyou inhabit-building.Repetitiondoesn’tmakeusmoreexcited todo things, itmakes us less excited; the perk habits offer is less resistance and moreautomaticity.Deansays,“Thefact thathabitualbehaviordoesn’tstirupstrongemotionsisoneofitsadvantages.”15That’strue,becauseanythingdependentonhumanemotioniscompletelyunreliable.

Theinitialexcitementofstartingsomethingisanallyatfirst,but itbecomesaformidableenemywhenitfadesandmakesyouwonderifsomethingiswrong.You greatly reduce this risk, however, by not relying on yourmotivation andfeelingsinthefirstplace.

It'sgreattobeenthusiastic,butlet'sassumethatmindsetasabonus,ratherthanthecuefortakingaction.It’sbettertodosomethingbecauseyouchoosetodoit,

asolidfoundationthatdoesnotfluctuatewildly.Lackofenthusiasmaftersometimeiscounterintuitivelyapositivesignthatcontrolismovingtothemorestableandautomatedbasalganglia.

ThispredictableenthusiasmdecreaseisonereasonwhyyouseesomanypeopledroptheirexerciseplansafterJanuary.Despite theirsuccessexercising, they’llnotice, I’m not feeling motivated anymore, and stop going. Perhaps if theyunderstoodwhytheydidn’t feelmotivatedanymore, they’dbeencouragedandcontinue.

As a main strategy, motivation might be good enough to get you by in life(maybe),but it’sapoorchoicecomparedtowillpower.Whilewillpower is thebest strategy,most peopledon’t knowhow touse it anddrain theirwillpowerreservesquickly.

DespiteeverythingIjustsaid,don’tworry,youcanstillenjoyyourroutinesverymuch.You’llalwaysbeahumanwithfeelingsandemotions!I'mnotaskingyoutoneverfeelagain.I'maskingyoutoneverletyourfeelingsstopyouagain.

WhyWillpowerBeatsMotivation

Now that I've bashedmotivation, I'mgoing to tell you how to getmore of it.Contradiction?No,thereasonIdon't likemotivation isn'tbecause it'sbad.Forexample, I need a baseline level of motivation to write these words. Butmotivation,throughnofaultofitsown,hasbeenmasqueradedabouttownasthesolution topersonalgrowth. It's like if I toldyoucarrotscuredcancer.Carrotsaregoodforyou,buttheywon'tlikelycureanyoneofcancer.Sonowthisgoodthing(carrot)hasbeenmadeintoanenemyofthetruthandisdeceivingpeople.Inthisway,motivationisanevilcarrot.

TheMini Habits willpower strategy is very conducive to motivation, whichagain, is good, but unreliable. I've found that by using willpower, motivationbecomesmorereliable;motivationcomesfastwhenyoutakeactionfirst.Therearethreereasonswhyforcingyourselftotakeactionwithwillpowerisfarbetterthantryingtogetmotivated.

WillpowerisReliableUnlike motivation-based techniques, willpower is extremely reliable. If youforce yourself to do something no matter what, that's dependable. Of course,that'sonly ifyoucan forceyourself todo it.And it just sohappens that thesenexttwoadvantagesofwillpowermakeitevenmorereliable.

WillpowerCanBeStrengthenedUnlikemotivation,willpowercanbe strengthened likeamuscle.Leadingself-control researcher ProfessorRoyBaumeister found in 1999 that studentswhohadexercisedtheirwillpowertoimprovetheirposturefortwoweeks,“showedamarkedimprovementonsubsequentmeasuresofself-control”comparedtothosewhohadn’tworkedon theirposture. 16Another study found that a twomonthaerobic exercise program resulted in improvements in other unrelated self-controlactivities.17

Thisisself-improvementgold.Thesestudiessuggestwecanstrengthenourveryabilitytoimproveourselves!

But if something neither works the first time nor any time after, then you'respinningyourwheelsbycontinuallytrying.Motivationworkssometimes,soit’stricky to evaluate.But if you look at your long term results usingmotivation,you might see that it isn’t working consistently. Motivation is not somethingthat’s easy to improve either because when your dog dies, your mood willdarken;whenyou'retiredorinabadmood,youwon'tfeellikeexercising.Youcan,however,improveyourabilitytotakeactiondespitefeelingresistanceduetoemotionaltrauma,lackofconfidence,badmoods,orlowenergylevels.Thisiswillpower.

WillpowerStrategiesCanBeScheduledIfyourelyonmotivation,youwillhaveadifficult timestickingtoaschedule.When it's time to write, who knows if you'll be motivated or not? It'sunpredictableandnotcalendar-friendly.

Usingwillpower,though,youcanscheduleanactivityanddoitwhetheryouaremotivatedat the timeornot.This allows for consistency,which isbothhabit-andcalendar-friendly.Habitsaren'tmadefromageneralplantowritewhenyoucanorexercisewhenthestarsalign.You'vegottoputthetaskonyourcalendaranddoit,andthatrequireswillpower.

The big question remains—how can we maintain consistent success usingwillpower?Toanswerthisquestion,let'ssummarizewhatsciencetellsusaboutwillpowerandtakeitfromthere.

HowWillpowerWorks

Itused tobebelieved thatwillpowerwasanunlimited resourceof,well...will.The idea was that if you wanted something enough, you would always haveenoughwillpowertomakeyourselfget it.ThatideachangedwhenBaumeisterconductedasomewhatcruelstudyin1996.18Itstartedwith67peopleinaroom,which was promptly saturated with the tempting smell of freshly bakedchocolatechipcookies.Thentheybroughtthecookiesandotherchocolatetreatsintotheroom.Hereisthecrueltwist—onlysomeoftheparticipantsweregivenchocolatetreatstoeat.Others,Godhelpthem,weregivenradishestosnackoninstead!Evenasapersonwholovessnackingonrawradishes,Ifeeltheirpain.

Scientistsfromthestudyhumorouslynotedthatquiteafewoftheradisheatersappeared to “exhibit clear interest in the chocolates, to the point of lookinglonginglyatthechocolatedisplayandinafewcasesevenpickingupthecookiestosniffatthem.”(Ibid.,255)AsIsaid,cruel.

Afterthis,chocolateandradishparticipantsalikeweregivenapuzzletosolve.Thosewho ate radishes spent less than half the time attempting the puzzle asthosewhohadconsumedchocolate,andtheyattemptedtosolveit fewertimesbeforegivingup.Itappearsthathavingtoeatradishesinsteadofcookiesdrainedtheir will to continue struggling with the puzzle. Baumeister named thisphenomenon“egodepletion.”Therehavesincebeendozensofstudiesverifyingtheresultsfromthisgroundbreakingstudy.

DecisionsDrainWillpowerToo!Don’t just blame the radishes.A self-control study found peoplewhomade adifficultdecisionearlier in thedayweremorelikely tocavein toa temptationlater,showingadecreaseinself-control.19 Itseemsthatbigdecisionsshare thesame pool of energy as our willpower. I imagine that anything that uses theprefrontal cortex could have this effect, because the prefrontal cortex handlesshort termmemoryandcurrent thinking.Butyouwouldn't typically think that

makingatoughdecisioncouldadverselyaffectyourabilitytoresisttoicecreamorforceyourselftoexerciselaterintheday.

Thismeans one thing—we've got tomaximize our self-control reserves to beeffectiveatchangingourselves.Iincludethisjusttoshowhowotherthingscanundercutourwillpowerreserves,makingthephilosophybehindminihabitsevenmoreimportant.

AnImportantMeta-AnalysisOfWillpowerA meta-analysis is a “study of studies” that attempts to extract importantconclusions from the body of related work on a given topic. This helps tosmoothoutpossibleaberrationsfromindividualstudies.Ifsomethingholdstrueoverdozensofproperly-conductedstudiesandthousandsofparticipants,there'saveryhighprobabilityofthatdatabeingreliable,illuminating,anduseful.

In 2010, a meta-analysis of 83 studies was done on ego depletion. 20 Egodepletion essentially means the same thing as willpower or self-controldepletion,soIwillusethesetermsinterchangeably.Fromthismeta-analysis,thefive biggest factors found to cause ego depletion were effort, perceiveddifficulty, negative affect, subjective fatigue, and blood glucose levels. Thesefactors,then,arethefivebiggestobstaclesthatkeepusfromsustainingsuccesswith a willpower-based strategy. What do we do once we've exhausted ourwillpower? Is all hope lost then? According to the analysis, motivationalincentives,trainingonself-controltasks,andglucosesupplementationpromotedbetterself-controlofego-depletedpeople.(Ibid.)

Thisgivesusawealthofinformationabouthowbesttomanagewillpower.HereisanimportantmotivationandwillpowerrecaptosetupthisnextpartabouttheMiniHabitsstrategyforaddinghealthyhabitstoyourlife:

• New(ornon-habit)behaviorsarestartedbyusingmotivationorwillpower.

• Motivationisn'treliable,soitcan'tbethestrategyforbuildinghabits.

• Willpowerisreliable,butonlyifyoudon'trunoutofit.

• Therearefivemaincausesofwillpowerdepletion:effort,perceiveddifficulty,negativeaffect,subjectivefatigue,andbloodglucoselevels.

• Ifwecansuccessfullyovercomethesefivehurdles,weshouldfindsuccess.

Inthenextchapter,we'lldiscusshowminihabitsfiteverythingwe'vecoveredsofar,startingwiththesefivemaincausesofwillpowerdepletion.

TheStrategyOfMiniHabits

“It'snotwhatwedoonceinawhilethatshapesourlives.It'swhatwedoconsistently.”―AnthonyRobbins

TheMiniHabitsstrategyisforcingyourselftotake1-4“stupidsmall”strategicactionseveryday.Theseactionsaretoosmall tofail,andtoosmall toskipforspecial occasions.They serve dual purposes—to spark you to domore, and tobecome(mini)habits.

Nowwe’lllookathowtheMiniHabitsstrategygenerallyappliestheprincipleswe’velearnedthusfar.Thespecificstep-by-stepinstructionsoftheMiniHabitsstrategycomestwochaptersafterthisone.

UsingWillpowerTheMiniHabitsWay

There was a study on ego depletion that found some correlation betweenbelieving willpower is limited and willpower becoming limited. 21Thosewhodidn't believe their willpower had a limit, appeared to last longer in egodepletion activities. At first, this appears to be a strike against having minihabits,becausethey’redesignedaroundtheassumptionthatwillpowerislimited(as shown in the meta-analysis). But let me explain why mini habits are afailsafeagainsteitherscenario.

Ifwillpoweris trulylimited, thenminihabitspreserveitbystartingsmall.Butsaythatwillpowerisonlylimitedbyourbeliefthatit'slimited.Whatwouldthatmean for mini habits? It's great news! You’ll believe you have unlimitedwillpowerwithminihabitsbecausetheyrequirealmostnowillpower.Sointhecasethatyou'reburstingattheseamswithwillpowerenergy,minihabitswillgetyou started and allowyou tomakegreat bonusprogress.And in the case thatyou're completely exhausted and out of willpower, mini habits will get youstartedanywayandallowyoutomakethemostofyourcapabilitiesatthetime.Thebeliefthatyoucantakeactionnomatterwhatisbuiltintothistheory,andithasnotfailedmeasingletime.Notoncehasmywillpowerbeeninsufficienttocompleteaminihabit.

Now,Iwanttohighlightagainthefivemaincausesofego-depletionfoundfromthe 83 study meta-analysis mentioned earlier. The biggest five ego depletiondrainswerefoundtobe(innoparticularorder):

• Effort

• Perceiveddifficulty

• Negativeaffect

• Subjectivefatigue

• Bloodglucoselevels

Let'sexaminehowallfiveof thesewillpowerthreatsaremostlyorcompletelynullifiedbyminihabits.

EffortMinihabitsrequireverylittleactualeffort.You'regoingtobedoingonepush-up, writing 50 words, reading two pages, or other very easy tasks. Thesubsequentbonuseffortfromoverachievingisvariable,meaningsomedayswillbemoreproductive thanothers.This isanatural structure thatgreatly reducesthechanceforburnout.I'veoftenplanned towrite50wordsandwritten2,000words.Othertimes,I'vewrittencloserto50justtomeettherequirement.

TheMiniHabitssystemisbothrigidandflexibleinstrategicplaces.It'srigidinthe beginning, forcing you to start, but it's flexible after that, allowing you todecide howmuch extra youwant to do. The initial effort requires hardly anywillpower.

Resultwithminihabits:verylittleegodepletion.

PerceivedDifficultyMinihabitshavealmost zeroperceiveddifficultybydesign, aprimarybenefitthat compounds when you do extra. Remember when I talked about the big“mountain” thatmy 30minuteworkoutwas tome? Thatworkout had a veryhighperceiveddifficulty—mysenseofthedifficultywasgreaterthantheactualdifficulty.Butwhen I decided to startwith one push-up and continued in thatfashion,theperceiveddifficultydroppedsubstantially.Settingminigoalsisthebestwaytodroptheperceiveddifficultyinanyproject.

Onceyoustartandarefreetocontinue,yourperceiveddifficultywillbemuchlower due to the psychological impact of having already started. Just like inphysics,thegreatestfrictionoccursatthestartofmotion.Onceyou'reinmotion,everythinggetseasierasaresultofmomentum(andincreasedmotivation).

Starting, even in a small way, also brings your mind into reality, and this isimportant.Beforeyoutakeaction,yourmindcanonlyimaginewhataparticularbehaviorwouldbe like.My initialprojectionofa30minuteworkoutwas likescalingMountEverest. Itwaswrong.When it comes to activities that requirephysical ormental effort, it's extremely common to overestimate how difficulttheyare.AfterIcompletedmy30minuteworkoutfromforce-startingwithonepush-up,Irealizedhowabsurdmyinitialperceiveddifficultywas.

Resultwithminihabits:verylittleegodepletion(evenasyoucontinuebeyondyouroriginaltarget).Thereasonstartingisthehardestpartisbecauseitcarriesthebruntoftheweightofthecommitment.Oncewestart,wefeelasifweneedtofinishouroriginalintentiontocountitasasuccess.Thisiswhywetendnottostartaprojectthatintimidatesus.We’drathernotstartifwewon’tfinish.Thisiswhymini habits are so easy.The total intention is so small, there's no risk ofquittingtooearly.Bystartingsmallandenteringtherealityofdoingthework,yourmindwillseethatonesmallstepisnotasdifficultasitfirstseemed,andthattakingthenextstepisn’tdifficulteither.

NegativeAffectNegative affect simplymeans the experience of unpleasant feelings; it clearlyplayedaroleinthechocolateandradishstudy.Participantsweretemptedbythesight and smellof chocolate andweregiven the lessdesirable radishes.Beingtempted with chocolate only to be denied even a taste was a very negativeexperience,perhapsmorethanwe'dthink(imaginesomeonepresentingyouwithcookiesandthenwithholdingthem.Ack!).Asminihabitsareforaddinggoodthings, negative affect is less relevant unless your action is directly replacinganother pleasure. Eating radishes alone won't deplete willpower, for example,butwhenjuxtaposedagainstchocolateygoodness,youbettheywill!

Resultwithminihabits:typicallynoegodepletion.Evenifyou'rereplacingapleasure with a mini habit, the commitment is so small that you won’t feelnegativeaffect fromit.Moreoften,you’llbereplacing time-wastingbehaviorswithbeneficialones,whichinducesapositivefeeling.

SubjectiveFatigueThisisaninterestingone,isn'tit?Itdoesn'tsayfatigue,itsayssubjectivefatigue,

implying that we're not completely objective in our assessment of our ownfatigue.Itturnsoutthatwillpowerisabattleofthemind,andaccordingtosomeofthesetopwillpowerdrainers,thebattleappearstobebetweentheperceptionofyourstrengthrelativetoyourtask.

Mini habits thankfully come with a mini amount of subjective fatigue.Subjective fatigue depends on many factors, and a big one is how you seeyourselfstackingupagainstyourgoal.I'venoticedthatwhenmygoalislarge,mysubjectivefatigueworsens.Thisislogical,asthemind“looksahead”totheupcomingworkandperhapsfeelstheimpactearly.Arecentstudyfoundthatourimaginationsaresopowerful that theycanchangewhatwephysicallyseeandhearintherealworld,22soitisnotatallastretchtothinkthatexpectingaheavyworkload can impact our energy levels too. This idea was also supported byresearchers in the meta-analysis, who noted, “expecting further acts of self-controlexacerbatedtheeffect[ofegodepletion].”23Inoticedthatwhenmygoalbecamejustonepush-up,mysubjectivefatigueshrunk.Infact,IfeltIhadplentyof energy to do a single push-up, and the thought that I could easily dosomething,albeitsmall,wasenergizing.

Resultwithminihabits:Nothingcancompletelytakeawaysubjectivefatigue,butminihabitsmitigates itverywell. In relation toyourminigoals,youmayfeel a sense of empowerment and energy. Even when I've been exhausted(subjectively),I'vestillfeltsufficientlyenergizedtojustreadtwopagesorwrite50words. If you'rewondering about the value in “only doing thatmuch,” it'shighandit’scoveredlater.

BloodGlucoseLevelsGlucose(sugar)isyourprimaryenergysource.Ifyouhavelowglucoseinyourblood,you'regoingtofeelverytired.Ifit'sdangerouslylow,youcanevenpassout.Yourbloodsugarlevelsaredeterminedbygenetics,diet,andlifestyle.

Asforminihabits,theyareindependentofyourbloodsugar,buttheycanhelptopreserveitbybeingthemostefficientwaytospendyourwillpowerenergy.Itis far more mentally energy efficient to break things down into smallcomponents that are easily “mentally digested” and less stressful. The goal oflosing100poundsinayearisaconstantenergydrainandburden.Andwiththis

goal,it'spossibletolose50poundsandfeellikeafailure.Whywouldanyonebeinterestedinthat?!Oneworkoutfeelslikeadropinthebucket,anditisinthegrandschemeofyourmassivegoal.It'shardtofeelgoodafteraworkoutwhenitrepresents almost nothing compared to your goal. With mini habits, though,willpower is preserved as much as possible, every step you take feels likesuccess,andgoingbeyondyourgoalfeelsevenbetterthanthat.It’sasystemthatmakes you feel like a winner, because people who feel like winners act likewinners.

Result with mini habits: While blood sugar levels are independent of minihabits, the fact that they are energy -efficient, willpower-efficient, andempoweringpsychologically, preserves blood sugar asmuch as anygoal/habitstrategycould.And ifyou're tired from lowbloodsugar,minihabitsgiveyouthebestchancetotakeactionanyway.

HowMiniHabitsExpandYourComfortZone

Right now you have a comfort zone. Imagine it as a circle. You're mostcomfortableinsideofthiscircle,butoutsideofitaresomeofyourdesiredgoals.Outside the lines,youmightseeyourselfphysically fitandweighing less;youmight envision books you've written or books you'd like to read; a happierversionofyouwithfewernegativethoughts;aversionofyouwhocooksmoremeals at home; or whatever else you're interested in improving. These areoutsideofyourcomfortcirclebecausetheyrequiresomediscomforttoachieve(duetostrayingfromyourbasalganglia'scurrentroutines).

The common way people go about this change is diving in and trying a“whateverittakestosucceed”strategy.Thisislikesprintingwelloutsideofyourcomfort circle and fighting to stay there.That'swhenyour subconsciousbrainsays,thisisinteresting,butI'mreallyuncomfortablewiththishugechange,andit forces you back inside your comfort circle when your motivation andwillpowercannolongersupportyououtthere.

Minihabitsarelikewalkingtotheouteredgeofyourcircleandtakingonestepoutsideof theboundaries.You're in less comfortable territoryhere,butnotbymuch, because you know taking one step backwill put you back inside yourcomfortcircle.Andmaybeforthefirstfewtimes,youwillsteprightbackinsideyour comfort circle (only meeting your mini requirement). But when youcontinuetostepoutsidethecircle,yoursubconsciouswillgetcomfortablewithitandyourcirclewillexpand(we’re talkingaboutaminihabit forminghere).Thisexpansion,unlikethesprintsinthepriorexample,canpermanentlychangeyourboundaries,anditisthemagicbulletofminihabits.BecausewhileIhopeyouget theurge toexploreyourouterboundariesafteryou take that first stepoutside,evenifyoudon't,youwilleventuallyformacomfortablehabitoftakingthatfirststepintoanewbehavior.Thisservesasthebestpossiblefoundationforfurtherstepsandpersonalgrowthinthatarea.

In the case of push-ups, the commonmini habit is to do one every day. Thissmallstepcreatesamuchbroadereffectthanyou'dthink,becausenotonlywillyoubecomecomfortablewiththeideaofdoingonepush-up,you'llalsobemorecomfortablewith push-ups in general andwith doing them every day. This isgoing tomakescalingupabreeze.Really.And this is theabsoluteworstcasescenariooftheMiniHabitssystem(inthatyouneverdoextra).

Chances are thatyouwill do extra sometimes.And the reason relates tobasicphysics.Newton'sfirstlawstatesthat...

1.Anobjectthatisatrestwillstayatrestunlessanexternalforceactsuponit.

2.Anobjectthatisinmotionwillnotchangeitsvelocityunlessanexternalforceactsuponit.

Canyouseehowthisrelates?Onceyoutakethatfirststep,youareofficiallyinmotion. You will find as I have, and as Newton's law suggests (for physicsanyway), that onceyouget started it is almost as hard to stop as it is to keepgoing. Add to this that nothing is more motivating and inspiring than seeingyourselftakeaction.Putittogetherandwegetanewequation:

Onesmallstep+desiredbehavior=highprobabilityoffurthersteps

TheTwoMomentsOfResistance

IrememberlivinginVirginiawithacat.Whenitsnowed,wenaturallywantedtoseehowourindoorcatlikedthesnow.Catsdon'tlikewater,butdotheylikefluffy,frozenwater?Nope.

Firstattempt:Wewalkedoutintotheyardandtossedherintothesnow.Failure.Shewouldstand theremotionlessandconfused for threeseconds,andquicklyracebackinsideindisapproval.

Secondattempt(laterday):Weplacedherontheoutskirtsofthesnow.Success!Sheactuallywalkedaroundinitandexploredsome.

Yourbrainisjustanothercatinthesnow,andyoucanquotemeonthatbecauseIloveoutofcontextquotes.Springmassivechangesonitanditwillrunbacktoitscomfortableroutines.Butintroducechangesgentlyandinsmalldosesanditjustmightbecurious(notscared)toexplorethemmore.

Yourbrainisprogrammedtoresistchange,butmostofthatresistancecomesattwoparticularmoments.

ResistanceBeforeActionThink of yourself as a ball resting on a track, or as Newton's law states, “anobjectthatisatrest.”Motivationtechniquesinsistthatyougetmotivatedbeforeyou move, but isn't it easier just to move forward one centimeter and letmomentum help you out? Yes, yes, it's much easier! Move yourself slightlyforward to get rolling. Once you're rolling, the equation changes to a morefavorable physics formula: “an object that is in motion will not change itsvelocityunlessanexternalforceactsuponit.”

Wewanttobeinmotioninthedirectionofourgoalsasmuchandasfrequently

aspossible.Todothis,weneedthefirstactiontobereallyeasy,becausethatisthefirstwallofresistanceinanytask.Startingisthehardestpart,butthatdoesn'tmeanithastobehardtostart.“Hardest”isrelative.

When the first action is just a nudge, initial resistance shrinks.Onceyou takeaction,thereisasecondwaveofresistance.Thestrengthofthissecond“wave”dependsonhowmuchofanimpactyourfirststephad(whichvaries).

ResistanceToDoMoreTheMiniHabits strategy addresses the first instance of internal resistance byrequiring small steps to start and bymaking the total requirement too easy tofail.Itkeepsyoufromgettingoverwhelmedandracingbacktoyouroldroutines(likeacatinthesnow).

Butonceyoustart,there'sanotherwaveofresistance.Inmyexperience,takingthatfirststepoftencompletelyshattersthissecondlevelofresistance,especiallyonceyouhavehadsomepractice.Butstartingout,itwasFARlessfrequent.Canyouguesswhy?Thinkaboutthebrain.

This resistance isn't a mystery. It's a subconscious conflict with my typicalbehavior.Thebasalgangliacanbefooledintonotresistingthefirststep,butitstillknowswhatitwantswhenyouattempttodomore.So,whenthefirststepisn't enough to break the resistance, you can take another. The basal gangliadoesn'tcareto“defend”againstsmallsteps,onlydrasticchanges.Bychangingslowlyandtakingitonestepatatime,you'replayingbyyourownbrain'srules.

So when I kept setting mini goals in the one push-up challenge, my braintolerated it.ButonceI thoughtaboutdoingevena10minutechunk,mybrainsaid,“No,absolutelynot.Playvideogames,youngman.You'regrounded.”SoIsaid,“ButcanIjustgettheexercisematout?”anditsaid“Yes.”Youknowtherest.

If you're ever in a situationwhere you'd like to domore than yourminimumrequirement,simplycontinuetousesmallsteps(ifnecessary).Butdonotcometoexpectthiseverytime.Yourrequirementissmallforallofthereasonswe'rediscussing!Youdon'twanttojeopardizeyourlong-termsuccessforashort-term

gain.Idon'twanttoscareyouintodoingtoolittleeither,soI'lljustsaythis:ifyourrequirementissmallonpaperandinyourmind,you'refine.

Now,let'stakeacloserlookathowminihabitsworkinthemoment.

MiniHabitsInTheMoment

We just talked about the two occasions that we meet resistance (before andduring a task or project). Now I want to discuss both common forms ofresistance—mentalandphysical.

Motivationcan'tovercomeresistanceconsistently. It is thesometimessolution.ThesloganformotivationshouldbethequotefromthemovieAnchorman:60%ofthetime,itworkseverytime.

Itisn'tjustmotivationthough—usingwillpowerrecklesslyisequallyineffective.Smartwillpowermanagement is key topersonaldevelopment as smartmoneymanagementiskeytofinancialsuccess.Peopleworkingnormal,relativelylow-payingjobshavebecomesmillionairesthroughsmartmoneymanagementwhilesuperathletesmakingmillionsofdollarseveryyearhavegonebankrupt.Ifyoudon'tplanyouractionstrategyout,you'llflip-flopbetweenpoorwillpowerandmotivationstrategies,andendupfrustrated.

Here'showminihabitsovercomementalandphysicalbarriers.I'lluseexerciseastheexample,sinceitissuchacommondesire.

Scenario#1:Youhave energy to exercise,butdon'twant todo it (mentalbarrier).

Since we're going to skip motivation, we're left with using willpower. Butinsteadofsayingyouhavetodoafullworkout,we'lljustsaythatyouHAVEtodoonepush-up.It'srequired.Asyouhaveenergyinthisscenario,thisisn'tabigdeal.Andonceyoustart,you'regoingtofindthemotivationkickinmostofthetime.

You don't want to exercise right now in this scenario, but you do want to

exercisegenerallyinlife.Theseareconflictingdesiresbetweenpresentmomentfeelingsandyour lifevalues.Whenyoudo that firstpush-up,your lifevalueswillofteninspireyouandovertakeyourpriorhesitation.Ifnot,youmayhavetosetafewmoremicro-goalslikeIdidinthefirstOnePush-upChallenge,butasyou leadyourselfalong,yourmindwilladjust towhat thebody isdoing.Andeach small step you take will make your long-term healthy perspective moreappealing.

In the willpower section, we saw how willpower depends greatly on theperceptionof thedifficultyof the task, andwhenyou start “stupid small,” theperceiveddifficultyandwillpowercostdropdrastically.Onceyoutakethefirststep,yourbrainisforcedtocalculatethe truedifficultyofwhatafullworkoutwould be like, instead of a biased, lazy brain projecting it to be torturous! Ifyou'veeverfoundyourselfthinkingitwasn'tsobadafteraworkoutortryinganewexperience,you'realreadyfamiliarwiththisphenomenon.

Nowwhat if you go overboard with willpower even after starting small, andburnyourselfout?Thisisthesituationthatlifecoachesareterrifiedof...whatifyousimplydon'thavetheenergytodoit?Whatifyouhaveaheadache?WhileI'mnotpromisingthisasapanaceaforallaction-stoppingailments,Idobelieveitisthesinglebestaction-basedstrategy—ifanythingcanwork,it'sthis.

Scenario #2:Youdon't physically feel like exercising because you're tired(physicalbarrier).

Wethinkoftirednessasaphysicalbarrier,butit'salsoamentalbarrier.Havingno energy usually means you have zero motivation. I've overcome this exactscenariocountless timeswithminihabits.More than1,000wordsof thisbookwerewrittenwhileIhadaheadache,forexample.Notjustthat,butIwastiredandwantedtogotosleep.Iwascompletelyunmotivatedtowrite,hadverylittleenergy,andIdidmy50wordsanyway(whichgrewinto1,000somehow).

In many ways, it's harder not to do a single push-up than to do one. Thechallengeissoeasythatyourprideenterstheequation:Imaybestubbornandexhaustedrightnow,butcomeon,Icandothat.Iencourageyoutofrequentlyremind yourself of the absurdity of not being able to meet your mini habit

requirement(s).

I was productive with a headache because I started small. It seemed literallyimpossibleatfirstbasedonhowIfelt.Andinthepast,therewasnowayIwouldevenattempttowriteinthosecircumstanceswithsuchagreatexcuse.Iwouldhavecutmylossesandgavethestandardpromisetomyselftodoitlater.(AsIage,Irealizethatnowisyesterday'slater,andthatlaterisabadplan.)Itwastheperfect storm though—headache, late atnight, anddead tired. I swearmybedwasgivingmepick-uplines.

“YourREMcycleisbeautiful,Stephen,”itsaid.Myglazedeyesgazedlustfullyatthewarmcovers,andIreplied,“inaminute,honey.”

MyrequirementwassoeasythatIdecidedtotakeaminutetomeetitandthenquit. Instead, I wrote 1,000 words; I was astonished. It was one of thosemomentswhenIrealizedhowpowerfulthislifestrategyis.

Canyouseehowminihabitscanmakeyoufeelunstoppable?CanyouseewhyI'mconfidentthatminihabitscanhelpnearlyanyoneaddgoodhabits?IfIcanperform in those circumstances—when I have weak willpower—then thisstrategyisagoodone.Thebasisofthisstrategyrestsnotmyuniqueexperience,butonthescienceofwillpower.Myexperiencecoincideswiththescience.Minihabitsaredesignedforminimumwillpowerexertionandmaximummomentum—theperfectscenario.

FittingMiniHabitsIntoYourLifeAreyoubusy?Doyoufrequently feeloverwhelmedwitheverythingyouwantandmustdo?Aconcernyoushouldhavewithanysystemishowitfitsintoyourlife.Manyhabitbooks(wisely)recommendthatyouonlypursueonehabitatatime. This is due to our limited willpower being unable to handle too manyhabitsatonce.Butwhowantstodedicatesixmonthstooneareaoftheirlifeandignore the other things they want to improve? Habits are so valuable that itwouldbeworthit,butit'sfrustratingtoonlyfocusonwritingwhenyouwanttoget in great shape too. This tension between your current focus and the otherareas you want to improve can derail you. This is a huge, largely ignoredproblemthathasbeenwithoutasolution...untilnow.

Mini habits are so small and willpower-efficient, that you can have multiplehabits at once.Evenbusy andoverwhelmedpeople can succeedwithmultipleminihabits.Lookatminihabitsasyourday'sfoundation—thesearethingsyouMUSTgetdone,buttheyonlytakeafewminutestotaltodo.Afterthat,youcando anything you want, whether it's “bonus reps” or other activities. It'scompletelyflexibletofityourcurrentlifestyle,butit's thecrowbarofpersonaldevelopment, because it can leverage an initially small habit in your life intosomethingmuchbigger.

TheMiniHabitsDifference

“Victoriouswarriorswinfirstandthengotowar,whiledefeatedwarriorsgotowarfirstandthenseektowin.”―SunTzu,TheArtof

War

WhatmakesMiniHabitsdifferentfromeveryothersystemoutthereclaimingtochangeyourlife?Howcanthissystemimprovehabitdevelopmentandpersonalgrowthovertraditionalmethods?Thesearefairquestionstoask,soherearetheanswers.

MiniHabitsCanCompeteWithYourExistingHabits

Studiesonpeopleattemptingtochangeexistinghabitshavefounddiscouragingresults.24 It turns out that once a habit gets strong enough, even the strongestintentionshaveatoughtimeturningitaround.Inthecontextofaday,you'lldomanymorehabitualbehaviorsthanitseems,andthesehabitscaninterferewithyourattemptstoaddinanewhealthyhabit.

WhereMiniHabits trouncesotherhabitprograms is incompetitiveness.Whenyouattempttointroduceanewbehavior,it'sliketryingtoenteraweight-liftingcompetitionwithout training. There is a ton of competition there already, andevenworse,thecompetitionisproven,experienced,andstrongerthanyou.Mosthabitprogramsgowronghere.Theyconvinceyouthatyoucancompetehead-to-head with these stronger habits right away. (Sorry, I've got $400 riding onsmokingandwatchingTV.)Theytellyoutointroduceahugechangelikegoingfromnotwritingmuchatall to2,000wordsperday,orbeingon thecouch toexercisingforanhoureveryday.Theproblemwiththisisthecostinwillpower.It'samathequationthatdoesn'tworkoutinyourfavor,unlessyoualreadyhavea strong self-discipline muscle. If not, you'll suffer "burn out," (and I'll win$400).

Thebrainresistsbigchanges.Haveyoueverheardofpeoplesayingthatyoujustneedtogetyourfootinthedoorforemploymentopportunities?Minihabitsarethat same concept, but instead of getting into a company, we're talking aboutyourbrain.Ithinkoftheprefrontalcortexashavingaspendingallowancebeforethe automatic part takes over. For every task, the subconscious brain looks atwhatyou'reaskingofitandchargesyouwillpowertogetintothecontrolroom.You'reonlyallowedtoaskforsomuchmanualcontrolperday,butonceyou'rein,you'rein.Minihabitsarelowwillpowertrojanhorsesthatcanleveragetheireasyaccess into thebrain’scontrolroomintobigresults. InoticedthiswhenIdid that first push-up. Itwas the samephysical action for how I started everyworkout,butIdidn'tfeeltheburdenofaworkoutbecauseIdidn'taskmybrain

forthewholething.

SmallSteps&WillpowerAreAWinningTeam

Theperfectteaminpersonaldevelopmentissmallstepsandwillpower.Aslongas you have enough willpower for an action, you can take that action. Smallstepsrequirelittletonowillpower.Soit'slikehavingunlimitedwillpower.Youcangetyourself todo justaboutanything ifyouguideyourselfalong insupersmallsteps.Tryit.

Ifyou resistwalkingup toagirl toaskherout,decide tomoveyour left footforward,andthenyourrightfoot,inherdirection.You'llgetthere,andshe'llaskyouwhyyouwere“walkingsofunny.”ICEBREAKER.

Liveupdateexample:After3hoursofbasketball today,Iwasexhausted.MybrainandbodytoldmetherewasnowayIcouldwrite. Iwasfallingasleep. Ihadnowillpower.ButIaimedfor50words,whichwastoosmalltoresist,andonce again I'm well beyond my target now (and awake). Many times whenyou'retired,engagingyourmindorbodywillwakeyouup.

OtherMethodsWillTellYouIt'sOkToLetUpTooSoon

Thecommonmythisthatyoucanestablishahabitin21or30days.Somebooksarewhollybasedaroundthisfalseconcept.Thetruthisabituglierandhardertopredict—18 to254daysuntil habit formation, dependingon thehabit and theperson.

Minihabitsdon'thaveaspecificenddate,becausewedon'tknowhowlong itwilltaketoformthehabit.Instead,we'lllookforsignsthatthebehaviorishabit.Ifyourexperienceislikemine,youcouldendupdevelopingabiggerhabitthanyouplanned.Myminihabitofwriting50words adayhas resulted inwritingmorelike2,000wordsperday(thoughnoteveryday).

MiniHabitsIncreaseYourSelf-efficacy

Self-efficacy isn't a term you hear much unless you read behavioral sciencestudies.Self-efficacyisyourbeliefinyourabilitytoinfluenceanoutcome.Inatwoyearrandomizedtrial,baselineself-efficacywasshowntohaveasignificantimpactonexerciseadoptionandmaintenance.25Thisappliestopeoplewhowantto exercise as well as those who need to exercise for medical purposes (ofcourse, we all should exercise to stay healthy). As researchers note in theirreview, “patient compliance with exercise prescriptions is more likely to besuccessfulifexerciseself-efficacyisassessedandenhanced.”26

Self-efficacyhelps us achievegoals and create habits, butPsychologistAlbertBanduraclarifiesthat“Expectationalonewillnotproducedesiredperformanceifthecomponentcapabilitiesarelacking.”27Believinginyourselfisn’tenough.Lacking the baseline self-efficacy required for success, however, is extremelycommon in peoplewho suffer fromdepression,weakwillpower, and repeatedfailures.Ifyouexpecttofail,positiveresultsarehardtocomeby.

Mini Habits are a self-efficacy-generating machine, and importantly, youcangetstartedsuccessfullywithzeroself-efficacy.Yourdailysuccesseswilltrainyoutohavehighself-efficacy.Howcanyounotbelieveinyourabilitytodoonepush-upperday?Youcandoitinbetweenthesetwosentences.Andthisamountstostrengtheningyourself-efficacythroughpractice.Minihabitsdoubleastrainingforbelievinginyourself.

Remember,yourbrainlatchesontoanyrepetitionyouthrowatit.Soaproblemmanypeopledevelopisanexpectationoffailingtoreachtheirgoals.Overtime,thiscrushestheirself-efficacybecauseit'shardtobelievethatnexttimewillbedifferent (especially if you're using the same strategy that failed last time). Ifyou'vebeenfeelinghopeless,thisisexactlywhathashappenedtoyou.But...youCANdoit.I'mnotbeingmotivational,I'mbeinglogical.Youcanliterallymakepositiveprogress in your life.To thinkotherwise is irrational nonsense, and it

comesfromtrainingyourselftobelieveyoucan't.

Minihabitsaretheperfectwaytostartover.Nolongerwillyoubeintimidatedby massive goals. No longer will you be attacked with feelings of guilt andinadequacy for falling short.No, this timeyou're going tobe succeedingon adailybasis.Thevictoriesmaybesmall,butonesmallvictorytoadefeatedmindisabigvictory.

Rightnow,youmightbewondering"Howcanonepush-upadayorwriting50wordsadayhelpme?That'snotenoughprogresstomatter."

First,that'swrong–whenanysmallbehaviorbecomesahabit,itmatters.Alot.Ahabit is the strongest behavioral foundation ahumancanhave. It's better tohave thehabitofonepush-upperday than todo30push-upseveryonce inawhile.Onlyhabitscanbebuiltstrongerandhigher.

Also,you'refreeandencouragedtoexceedyourtargetmark—Iblowmytargetsout of thewater on a daily basis now. But it's only because IMUSTwrite ameasly 50words a day that I am inclined towrite 2,000.Before this, I didn'twriteatallonsomedays.Itwasmyambitiontowritealotthatmademewriteverylittle.NowIwriteatleast3xasmuchasbefore.It'sbecauseI'mnolongerintimidatedtostart.Ilovemysafetynet,too.IcancallthedayasuccessifItakeafewminutestowrite50words—thisissoempowering.

Many times, Ihaveplanned to“justwritemy50”andendedupwriting3,000words.AsImentionedearlier,Ioncewrote1,000wordswithaheadacheandnoenergy. I felt likeSupermanafterdoing that. I lookedbackon the times Iwascompletelyhealthyandenergeticbutwastedtime,andthensawwhatIdidwithaheadacheandnoenergy,andgotevenmoreexcitedtosharethisbookwiththeworld.

MiniHabitsGiveYouAutonomy

Ina2012jobsatisfactionsurveyof411people,65%ofAmericanandCanadianrespondentssaidtheywereunsatisfiedorsomewhatunsatisfiedwiththeirjobs.28Ithinkit'spartlybecauseofthetraditionalmanagementphilosophythataimstocontrolemployeesratherthanenablethem.Othersurveyshavefoundautonomy,orthefeelingthatyouhavecontrolandcanmakedecisions,isaprimaryfactorin job satisfaction. A Denmark survey conducted by The European WorkingConditionsObservatoryfoundthat“Almost90%ofmaleemployeesandalmost85%offemaleemployeeswithhighjobdecisionlatitudearesatisfiedtoahighdegree,while only about 56%of thosewith low jobdecision latitude report ahighdegreeofjobsatisfaction.”29Thisisaspecificexampleofauniversaltruth—whenapersonfeelscontrolled,theyshutdown.Peoplehateit.Perhapsthisisbecauseautonomyisstronglyassociatedwithfreedom.

Thisisthedownfallofmanyself-helpbooks.They'llsaythatyouhavetosweatbloodtogetwhatyouwantinlife.Well,isn'tsweatingbloodasignthatapartofyoureallydoesn'tlikeit?Wouldn’tyourathertreatyourselfwellintheprocessofchangingintoabetterperson?

Theotherextremeofself-helpbooksincludesfluffy,motivationalBS,andothernon-threatening prose to make you feel good. You might feel motivatedtemporarily,butaswe'veestablished,relyingonfeelingsandmotivationdoesn'tworkinthelongrun.

Inyourjourney,you'regoingtolovetheweightlessnessofminihabits.Butthisis not a pushover systemwithout structure. It's not a vapid attempt to get youpsyched up. You'll set strict daily or weekly requirements for yourself, butthey're so easy that your subconscious won't feel controlled by your plans(important!).Then,afteryoumeetyoursmallrequirement,you'refreetodowhatyou want. Without guilt, and without an overbearing burden of heavy goals,you'refreetoexplorethesehealthybehaviors.Itmakestheprocessmorefuntoo,

andthatisascientificallyrelevantbenefit!

Onestudy found thatwhenpeopleperceived tasksanddecisions tobe fun (asopposed to tedious, boring, or difficult), they had stronger persistence.30Researchers in this study also noted the powerful impact of autonomy,whichyou’llnoticeisakeycomponentofminihabits.Afteryourminihabits,you’refreetodowhatyouwant.Autonomyappearstoworkbymeansofactivatingourintrinsic motivation. Examples they mentioned in which increased autonomygave better results (each supported by their own study) are morbidly obesepeople losing weight, smokers quitting, and diabetics controlling their bloodglucoselevels.31

MiniHabitsMarryTheAbstract&Concrete

Thetwotypesofgoalsareabstractandconcrete.Anabstractgoalis“Iwanttobe rich”; a concrete goal is “Iwant tomake$15by selling lemonade at 3PMtoday.”Mostpeoplestronglyrecommendthatyouaimforconcretegoals,butitisimportanttoalsoknowyourabstractlifegoalsandvalues(asIhavewrittenaboutbeforeonDeepExistence).Abstractthinkinghelpswithabstractgoals,butcanhindertheself-regulationrequiredforconcretegoals.

AstudybyLabrooandPatrickshowedthepotentialeffectmoodscanhaveonourthinking.32Theexperimentsinvolvedvariousmoodmanipulationtechniques(i.e.askingpeopleto“thinkofthebest/worstdayoftheirlife”),andthenteststomeasureabstractthoughtabilityorpreference.Theyconcludedfromthestudy'sfiveexperimentsthathappinesscausedpeopletothinkabstractly,whichhelpsussee the big picture, but can create a challenge for pursuing goals requiringconcretethinking.

Another problem is seen from a study by Ayelet Fishbach and Ravi Dhar; itsuggestsearlysatisfactionorahighexpectationofsuccesscanmakeusfeelasifwe'vealreadysucceeded.33Dieterswere split into twogroups.The researchersremindedonlyonegroupoftheirdietingprogress,andthenofferedbothgroupsa reward choice—an apple or a chocolate bar.Of the group remindedof theirprogress, 85% chose the chocolate bar compared to 58% of the other group,suggestingan“Ideserveareward”mentality.

Aprimary benefit ofmini habits is being able to do themnomatter howyoufeel, includingthatsenseofpre-goalsatisfactionthat tendstodisruptprogress.Because the requirement is so small, there is no valid excuse—not fromhappinessorlethargy—toskipit.

Happiness decreases your ability to perform concrete goals, but since theconcretepartofminihabitsis,forexample,justonepush-up,it'sstilleasytodo

whileinanabstractstateofmind.It'ssosmallthatitrequiresverylittlementalenergyandattention.Andsincehappiness increasesperformanceand focusonabstract goals, after your concrete goal, you can rely on your abstract goal of“beingfit”tomakeyouwanttoexercisemore.

As I've had success with mini habits, I've been happier, and it does makeconcretemini habits slightlymore difficult to achieve (still easy). But once Istartonaminihabit,therelevantabstractgoalsofwritingmore,readingmore,orgettingingreatshapeareeasiertopursue.

Becausemini habits empower progress on abstract and concrete goals, peoplewhoaregenerallystrongerinoneortheothercanfindsuccess.RememberwhenintheOnePush-upChallengeIhadtosetmultiplegoalstocomplete15push-ups?Ihadtorelyonconcrete,tinygoalstofinishtheworkout.Thisflexibilityisimportant forconsistencybecauseof thepsychologicalchangesweexperienceon a daily basis. It's being prepared for all possible situations and setbacks.There'salmostnosituationthatwillcauseacompletefailuretomeetyourminihabits,but therearemanyscenarioswhereyou'll findyourselfexceedingyourmini habits. The only time I've failed (just one) ofmy threemini habits waswhen I forgot to read and fell asleep for the night. Mini habits are perfectlysuited for anymood or situation. You can be happy andmotivated, tired anddepressed,orevensick,andstillcompleteyourminihabitsandpossiblymore.

MiniHabitsDestroyFear,Doubt,Intimidation,&Hesitation

These thingsarebest conqueredbyaction.Taking the first stepkills fearovertime, if not immediately. I'mnot longer intimidated towrite. I no longerhaveguiltaboutnotreadingenough.Goingtothegymisnotdauntingnow,it'sfun.Fearcan'texistifyou'veexperiencedsomethinganditwasn'tscary.

Minihabitscompelyoutotakethatfirststep,becauseit'ssoeasy.Andevenifyou step back into your safe zone right after that, you're stepping out againtomorrow.Eventually,you'regoingtotakeasecondsteptoo.Minihabitsexposeyoutoyourdoubtsandfearsinawaythatfeelssafeandempowering.You'llseethatexerciseisn'tsohardandyoucandoit.You'llseethatdailywritingiseasyandwritersblock isaself-fulfillingprophecy.You'll start readingmorebooks.You'll havea cleanerhome.Whateveryou'vebeenwanting todowillbecomepossible.

MiniHabitsCreateInsaneBonusEffectsOfIncreasedMindfulness&Willpower

Oneofthemostimportantskillsapersoncandevelopismindfulness,whichisbeingawareofwhatyouthinkanddo.Beingmindfulisthedifferencebetweenlivingpurposefullyandgoingthroughthemotions.

Ifyourminihabitistodrinkoneglassofwaterperday,you'llbemoremindfulofhowmuchwateryoudrinkingeneral.Whenyouhavetomonitorsomethingeveryday,howeversmall,itclimbstheladderofyourconsciousnessandyou'llthink about it even after you've met the requirement. I'm so mindful of mywritingnowbecauseofmyminihabitthatIthinkaboutopportunitiestowriteallday long. Youwill simultaneously and naturally develop amindfulness habit,whichwillhelpwithallfuturehabitmodification(includingbadhabits).

Thenextbonusisawillpowerincrease.Sincewillpowerneedsendurancemorethanrawpower,frequentrepetitionofsmalltasksistheidealwayto“exercise”thewillpowermuscle.The stronger yourwillpower, the greatermastery you'llhave over your body. Many people are slaves to their bodies, responding toeveryfeelingandwhim.Theybelievetheycan'tdothingsiftheydon'twanttodothematthetime.Addingminihabitsisagreatwaytofixthismindsetwhilebuildingwillpower.

Enoughtalk.Let’smovetoaction.Thenextchapterwillshowyouhowtocreateminihabitstolastalifetime.

MiniHabits–EightSmallStepsToBigChange

“Ifyoudon'texecuteyourideas,theydie.”—RogervonOech

Therealfunbeginsnow.Thisisthestep-by-stepapplicationguidetochooseandimplementyourownminihabits.Irecommendthatyougetapadandpennowtogothroughtheseandwritedownyourplansandstrategy.

Step1:ChooseYourMiniHabits&HabitPlan

Makeaquicklistofhabitsyou'dliketohaveatsomepoint.Theimportantoneswill come tomind quickly.Thiswill be your reference list for step one.Visitminihabits.comforideas.

Note: habit ideas fromminihabits.com are already inminified form—you canwrite down these mini habits now as long as you know the larger habit itrepresents.Onepush-upcouldstandforgeneral fitnessor fora largerpush-upgoalof100push-upsdaily.Otherwise,writedownfull-sizehabitsfornow.

It'stoughtopursueonehabitwhenyouhaveafewmorehabitsyou'reanxioustocreate.Ittakesalotofdisciplinetoignoreeverythingelseforafewmonthsinordertosolidlydeveloponehabit.It'sworththesacrificetobuildonehabitthatcanlastalifetime,butitremainsachallenge.

Good news everyone.As I’ve alluded to already, you can buildmultipleminihabits at once! This is due to their smallwillpower cost and flexibility. Their“size”will vary, though—both in initial difficulty and howmuch extra you’relikely to do. I havewritten farmore bonuswords than I've read bonus pages.Writingisapriorityforme,soit'snaturallywhereIputinthemosteffort.Thatsaid, I also readmuchmore than I previously did, and on some days, I readmuchmore than Iwrite.You'regoing to love this flexibility,because itallowsforparties,traveling,andotherscheduleaberrations.

Lately,Ihavebeenpursuingthreeminihabitswithgreatsuccess.It’sfourifyoucountexercise,butthat’salreadyahabit—Igotothegym3xaweek.Istilltrackitweekly,butit isnolongerawillpowerchallenge.Mybrainismorelikelytoencourageexercisethanresistitnow.

Iwouldnotrecommendthatyoupursueanymorethanfourminihabitsatatime

(and four might be too much). While these habits are individually easy toaccomplish,thelargerthequantity,themoreyourfocuswillbedividedamongstthemandthemorelikelyyou'llneglectorforgetoneofthem.Notonlythat,butimagine having to meet 100 tiny requirements every day. Yikes! There is awillpower cost forhaving todoa certainnumber of things everyday.Twoorthreeminihabitswillbethesweetspotformanypeople.

Herearethehabitplanstochoosefrom...

OneWeekFlexiblePlan(recommended)In this plan, you startwith one habit and use theMiniHabits system for oneweek.Thenyouevaluateandchoosealong-termplan.

Evaluation at oneweek:Do you feel burnt out?Do you find yourself easilysurpassingyour requirementeveryday?Areyoucrushing it andcravingmoregoodhabits?Dependingonhowchallengingitisforyou,youcanstaywithoneoraddmore.Sincenotallhabitsareofequaldifficulty,definingasetnumberthatworksforeveryoneisn'tpossibleorwise.Alsokeepinmindthatthemoreminihabitsyouhave,thelesslikelyyouaretooverachieveinthem.

Finally, consider what your most difficult day would be like. Maybe you'redrivingalldayontheroadorpreparingforabigparty—canyoucompleteyourmini habits then?Don't imagine the easiest days, imagine the hardest days. Ifyoucandosomethingonthedayyou'retired,stressed,andverybusy,youcandoiteveryday.

Now,ifyoufeellikeyourwillpowercanhandleanextraminihabit(ortwo),addit!NoticethatIdidn'tmentionyourschedule,becauseyourminihabitsshouldtakeyoulessthantenminutescombinedtocomplete(ifyoudon’tdecidetodoextra).Everyonehastenminutestospareforsomethingimportant.

TheoneweekflexibleplanisrecommendedforpeoplewhowanttotrytheMiniHabits system, but aren't sure yet what's best for them. This plan willautomaticallyturnintooneoftheotherplans.

Warning:It'simportanttomarktheoneweekmarkonyourcalendartomakea

firmdecisionthatdayaboutyourfutureplans.Don'tallowagap!

TheSingleMiniPlanDoyouwanttowriteconsistentlymorethananything?Doyoureallywanttogetseriousaboutyour fitness?Doyouwant todedicateyourself todaily reading?Thissingleminiplanplacesallofyourfocusononehabit;itcomeswithaveryhigh success rate. I started off doing thiswith theOne Push-upChallenge, inwhichIwasrequiredtodoatleastonepush-upeveryday.Ifyourwillpowerisasweakasminewasor if you'redepressed,onemightbe all youcanhandle.You'vegottostartsomewhere!

Thisisrecommendedforpeoplewhohaveasinglegoalthatdwarfstheothersinimportance right now. It's also a good option for those with very weak selfcontrol to help them improve it. Remember, you can always add more minihabits,butit'smorepainfultohavetodropone.

MultipleMiniPlanThisismycurrentstrategyandthemostadvancedone,butthatdoesn'tmeanit'stoodifficult for a beginner to have successwith. I have threemini habits, butyou'll see that two of them are practically the same thing: I write at least 50wordsforanything,writeatleast50wordstowardabook,andreadatleasttwopagesofabookeveryday.Thisisinadditiontomynowregular-sizedhabitofworkingoutat thegym3 timesaweek(whichevolvedfromtheOnePush-upChallenge).Evenwith three distinct daily goals, I can completemy entire listeasilyinlessthantenminutesifneeded(andneverfail).

If you reallywant to try four ormoremini habits at once starting out, bemyguest.Itcouldwork,butIdon'twantittospoilthisgreatsystemforyouifit'stoomuchforyoutoconsistentlycomplete.Whileeachminihabitissupersmall,ittakessomewillpoweranddisciplinetodothemalleveryday.AndMiniHabitsaims for 100%success, not 95%. If you fail at just onemini habit, youwon'thave the feelingof total success,which is important formaintaininghighself-efficacy.

Your ideal quantity ofmini habits is largely determined by howdifficult eachoneisforyou.Drinkingwateriseasierformostpeoplethanafitnesshabit(even

when minified). Habits that involve having to drive somewhere are asignificantlymoredifficultoption,especiallybecauseitdependsonavailability,location,etc.MineareeasybecauseIcanbringmylaptopwithmeeverywhere.Previously, I'd think, Iguess Ican'twritebecause I'mgoingonvacation for2days. Not anymore! Now I can be productive on vacation too (I know whatyou'rethinking,butIcanjustmeettheminimumifIwanttorelaxinstead).

Themultipleminiplanisrecommendedforpeoplewhohaveseveralgoodhabitsthey'reeagertodeveloporwouldfeelunsatisfiedtoonlydeveloponeatatime.

Ifyou'renotsurewhichplanisbestforyou,choosetheflexibleplanandpickonehabitfornowthatyou'dmostliketoform.Don'tbeafraidtonamethefullamountofwhatyouwantinthisstep(e.g.exercising5xaweekconsistently).

Atthispoint,youshouldhaveahabitplan,andfull-sizedhabitstopursue.Theymayberelatedtofitness,writing,reading,drinkingwater,habitualgratefulness,meditating,programming,etc.Nowwe'regoingtominifythem!

MakeYourHabits“StupidSmall”Thereasonwetendtoresistgivingourselvessmallstepshastodowithsocietalnorms, a habit of thinking bigger, and pride. I can do 20 push-ups easily, apersonwillthink,sothere'snoneedtosayI'lldojustone.Butthisthinkingonlytakesintoaccountonetypeofstrength(physical).Everypossibleaction—suchas20push-ups—hasawillpowerrequirementattachedtoit.Ifyou'remotivated,fullofenergy,andinshape,20push-upsmightnot"cost"youmuchwillpower.Butwhenyou'rea littlebit tiredalreadyandnot feelingup to it,notonlywillyouhavelesswillpower,buttheactivitywill“cost”moreofit!Amistakepeoplemake when setting goals is not taking into account that their motivation andenergy levels are going to fluctuate dramatically. They'll assume that theircurrentstateofmindandenergycanbepreservedorreactivatedwhenthetimecomestoact.Whatensuesisalosingstruggleagainstabrainthatdoesn'twanttochange(in thatway).But this time,we'regoing to trickourbrainandwin thewillpowergame.

My rule of thumb is tominifymy desired habit until it sounds stupid.Whensomethingsounds“stupidsmall,”yourbrainseesitasnonthreatening.Theseare

examplesthatsoundstupidsmalltomostpeople:

Onepush-upaday?You'rejoking!

Getridofonepossessioneveryday?Worthless!

Write50wordsaday?You'llneverpublishanything!

A skill you'll pick up as you practice mini habits is finding creative ways tomakeyouractionssmallerandsmallerifyoufeelresistance.Ifyou'reresistingyoursinglepush-up today—sayyouhave toget inpush-upposition,oreasier,thatyouhavetolieonyourstomachonthefloor.Ifyourminihabitistodrinkoneglassofwatereveryday,youcanmakeitsmallerbydecidingtofillaglasswithwater,oronestepfurther,pickupaglass.Ifyourminihabitiswriting50words a day and you're resisting, open up yourword processor andwrite oneword.Youwon'tneedtodothismostofthetimeasyourminihabitsarealready“stupidsmall,”butrememberyouhavethisinyourarsenalfortimesofextremeresistance.

Toosmalldoesnotexistinregardstominihabits.Ifyou'reunsure,gowiththesmalleroption.Forideasofminihabitstoimplement,visitminihabits.com.

ThisisthekeyoftheMiniHabitssystem.You'regoingtorepeatthistoosmalltofailactioneveryday.

Justasimportantasmakingyourminihabitsmallismakingyourthoughtssmalltoo.You must embrace this mini-requirement as if it is a full goal. Thismeansifyoumeetthetinyrequirement,you'resuccessfulfortheday.Ifyoucandothat,youwillgetthe“big”resultsyoudesire.

WhatToDoWithWeeklyMiniHabitsI can understand that some things aren't suitable for a daily plan. Exercise issomethingthatmanypeoplewillwanttodo3-5timesaweek.Whowouldwanttodrivetothegymsevendaysaweekifthey'reonlyworkingoutthreedaysaweek?

Weeklyhabitswilltakelongertoformintohabit,buttheyareconsistentenoughforthebraintorecognizeasapattern.Soifyoureallywanttosetaweeklyminihabit, try it andseehow itworks foryou.Wecandosomethingcreativewithweeklyhabits,however,totransformthemintoadailyrequirement.Ifyouwanttodrivetothegymweekly,asanexample,youcansetahybridminihabit.

Ahybridminihabitiswhenyougiveyourselfachoicebetweentwooptions(doA or B). I'm not overly fond of hybrid mini habits because they add to thewillpower cost (making decisions also uses willpower), but they are the bestoptioninsomecases.AndIlikethattheyhaveyoudosomethingeveryday.

Hybridminihabitexamples:

• DrivetothegymORdanceforthedurationofonesong

• DrivetothegymORdoonepush-up

• DrivetothegymORjogforoneminute

With this example,onoffdays,youhavea replacement activity.Won'tpeoplejustchoosetheeasyoneeveryday?First,Ithinkyoumightbesurprisedatwhatyou'll dowithout any additional requirements.Granting yourself freedom in asmartwayisveryempowering.Andyouwanttobefit,right?Second,theminihabithereisjusttodrivetothegym.Ifyouwantto,youcansimplydrivebackhome.Itsoundscrazy,butImuststresstheimportanceofgivingyourselfawayoutofabig,overwhelming45minuteworkout.Yoursubconsciousbrainissmartenough to knowwhen a goal on paper isn't your real goal.And it'swhenweforce ourselves into an intimidating commitment that our slow-changing brainrebels.

Forahybridplans,Irecommendstartingwithnostringsattached.Justseehowoftenyoudecide togo to thegym.Ifyouneverseemtochoose thegym, thenyoucanstartbyrequiringonegymdayperweek.Later,youcanscaleuptotwodaysrequiredperweek.Takeyourtimewiththisthough.Don'tbeinarushtochange, because your brain can't and won't change quickly. It will take timeanyway,soeasingyourselfintoitisthemostlogicalmethod.

Alright,nowcheckoveryourlist:

• Doyouhaveaminihabitplan?Didyouchooseflexible,single,ormultiple?

• Areyourminihabits “stupid small?”Say themout loud. If you laugh, theypass.

• Iseverythingwrittendownonpaper?Scrappaperisfine.

Ifso,great!Ontosteptwo.

Step2:UseTheWhyDrillOnEachMiniHabit

Everyoneprefers tobehealthy, but not everyone iswilling toput in theworkrequired to be optimally healthy. There are benefits of eating fast food andwatching movies all day too. If your problem has been that you want to dothings,butstruggletodothem,thenyouhavetherightbook.

Thebestwaytoknowifthehabitsareworththeeffortstartsbyidentifyingthesource.Thebesthabitideasaresourcedstraightfromyourlifevalues.We'renotlookingforideasthatcomefrompeerpressureandothers'expectationsforyou.If you try to changebasedon another personor society's opinion, I thinkyouknowwhatwillhappen,butI'llsayitanyway—massiveinternalresistance.

UsingTheWhyDrillToGetToTheSourceDrillsdrill.That'swhattheydo.AndIcallthefollowingthe“whydrill”becausethesimplequestion“why?”isthebestwaytodrilldowntothecoreofanything.

Onceyou'velistedyourhabits,identifywhyyouwantthem.Butdon'tstopthere.Askwhy again. Continue to askwhy until it becomes circular and repetitive,which means that you've found the core. Honest answers are absolutelynecessaryforthistowork,sodigdeep.Therewillbemorethanoneanswertothese questions, so try to pick the most relevant ones. Here are two real andhonestexamplesofmine.One isagreatchoice tomakehabitand theother ishighlyquestionable.

Iwanttowriteeveryday.Why?

Becausewritingismypassion.Why?

Because it'smy favoriteway to expressmyself and tell stories. I can connectwithandhelppeople throughwriting,andIenjoy theprocess.Whydoesthat

matter?

Thosethingsmakemefeelaliveandhappy.Why?

BecausewritingisclearlysomethingIvalueandtreasureinlife.Nextexample:

Iwanttogetupat6AMdaily.Why?

Becauseit'swhatsuccessfulpeopleseemtodo,andit'sembarrassingtogetuplater.Why?

BecauseIhavethesensethatsocietyingeneralandcertainpeopleIknowlookdownonmeforstayingupandwakinguplater.

Inthesecondexample,youcanseethatthemainreasonforchangeisexternalpressure.Thatsaid,gettingupat6AMcouldstillmakemehappier.BecauseofthepreconceivednotionsIhaveaboutwakinguplateandearly,itmakesmefeelmoresuccessfulanddecreasesmygeneralsenseofguiltwhenIgetupearlier.Soit'snotathrowaway,butwhenpittedagainstsomethinglikewriting(andI'mwriting very late at night right now), I'm not going to give it precedence. Bystayinguplatetowrite,I'mbeingtruetomyinnervalues,eventhoughtheworldmight not agreewith it. It's ok if theworld doesn't agreewith you—don't getbulliedintoalifestylethatdoesn'tsuityou.

Step3:DefineYourHabitCues

Thetwocommonhabitcuesaretime-basedandactivity-based.Inatime-basedcue,you'llsay,“I'mgoingtoexerciseMWFat3PM.”Inanactivity-basedcue,you'll say,“I'mgoing toexerciseMWF30minutesafter I takemy lastbiteatlunch.”

Peoplewith9-5jobshaveverystructuredschedules,sotime-basedcuestendtoworkwellforthem.Thosewhohavealotofflexibilityintheirschedulemightbenefitmorefromanactivity-basedcuethatletsthemkeepasolid,yetflexibleschedule.Whichcueyou'llusedependsonyour(desired)lifestyle.

Time-based schedules are rigid with little ambiguity (e.g. you start at 4 PMsharp).Thishelpsyou togetworkdoneandbuilddiscipline.Thedownside islackofflexibility—maybeyou'llgetaheadacheat4PMwhenyou'resupposedtodosomethingactive.Lifehasawayofthrowingoffourschedules.Andwhenyoumiss a cue, anddo the task late,you’llhit that awkward stagewhereyoudon'tknowwhethertofeelsuccessfulorguilty.

Activity-basedaremoreflexiblewithabitmoreambiguity.Theyhelpyoubuildstructure into a typically structure-less life. The tricky part is in knowingpreciselywhenone activity ends and theother begins. If I am to startwritingsomething after lunch at a restaurant, do I get to settle in and check themailbeforeIstartwriting?MustIgostraight tothecomputer?Youmaythink, thatdoesn'tmatter,but itdoes,becauseas thepowerofminihabits showus, littletasks can easily extend into bigger tasks. Suddenly you'll find yourselforganizing your entire desk and remember, oh yeah, I was supposed to bewriting.Small stepsgetus startedandallowus tobuildmomentum towardsameaningful goal, but it works the other way too. If you allow yourself smallconcessions,soonenoughyou'llfindthemgrowingagainstyourwill.

Thequestionof time-basedoractivity-basedcues isn'tall that important.They

canbothworkjustfine.Whatisimportantisthatyouchoose,andchoosefirmly.Notmaking a decision here is a bigmistake, but before you lock down yourchoice, there is one more option that might surprise you. It is my preferredchoiceforallofmycurrentminihabits.

Freedom-based,Non-specificHabitCues(GeneralMiniHabits)Traditionalhabitbookswilltellyouaboutthecue-behavior-rewardstructureofhabits from studies, and then proceed to tell you the obvious next step—pickyourcue,behavior,andreward.Butwhatifyouwanttodosomethinglikethinkmorepositivelyingeneral?Whatifyouwanttodosomethingatvaryingtimes?Minihabitsopenupanewrealmofpossibilityhere.Thefollowingisespeciallyrelevantforflexibleschedulesandgeneralhabitslikegratefulness.

Mini habits are rooted in autonomy, freedom, and flexibility. The goal is toempower you to have constant success. We can do apply this philosophy torestrictivehabitcuesbyinsteadsettinga24hourdeadlinewithnospecificcues.

Haveyounoticed that badhabits havemultiple cues,while everyone suggeststhatagoodhabitshouldhaveonecue?It'snowonderbadhabitsaresostrong!They have sprawling roots tied to many different cues in your life. That'sbecausebadhabitsgrownaturally through repetition invarious circumstances,while we grow good habits artificially with the “single cue-behavior-reward”formula. It's true that if you only have a single cue, you will still be moremindfulofthatbehavior.Forexample,ifyouthinktwohappythoughtsat2PMeveryday,thenyou'llprobablythinkthemmoreingeneraltoo.Butdoingitat2PMeverydaycanfeelrestrictiveandforced(dependingonyourpersonality).Inaddition,whenyousetaspecifictimetodosomething,itcanfeelwrongtodoitoutsideofthattime.Forpeoplewhohaveamorninghabitofwriting,manyofthemwon'teverwriteatother timesof theday. Iwriteatanyandall timesofday—whateverfitsmyschedulebest.

Anotherproblemwithspecificcues is theiradditional loadonyourwillpower.Whenyouhavetorunatsomepointtoday,that'sflexible.Whenyouhavetorunat 3PM, that's inflexible.The additional pressure to perform the task on timeincreaseswillpowercost.Traditionalhabitssuggestyoupairthistime-sensitivecuewithabigtask,makingitevenmoredifficultforyoutosucceed.Butforus,

the totalwillpowerrequiredevenfor“cue-triggered”actionswillstillbesmallbecauseoftheminisizeoftheaction.Therefore,minihabitsareabetterfitintothe current popular model of “cue-behavior–reward” than traditionally-sizedhabitsare.

Note: I'mnotsaying thatnon-specificcuesarealwaysbetter; they'rebetter forsomepeopleandsomehabits.Eachhabitshouldbedecidedonindividually.

Ageneralhabitisahabitwithmorethanonecueforaction.Mostofusalreadyhavegeneralhabits of eating, entertaining ourselves,mindlessly browsing theInternet,andsoon.Duetothestaggeringnumberofcuesweexperienceeveryday, there's something appealing about not choosing just one cue for a goodhabit.

The rigidity of having only one cue can hamper social opportunities andspontaneity. Butwith the dominant habit theories, having one cue is the onlyviableway tomake something habit.Havingmultiple cueswould require toomuchwillpower,andeachcuewouldneedtodevelopindividually,drawingouttheprocessofbecominghabit.That'swhyminihabitsareagame-changer.

Ageneralminihabitrequiresyoutodoyourlittlerequirementonceperday,atyour leisure. I don't recommend midnight as the deadline, as this is alsoinflexible.Irecommendthatgoingtosleepforthenightsignifiestheendofyourday.Thisgivesyouthegreatestchancetosucceedbecauseyoucansqueezeinyourminihabitsatthelastsecond.Irealizehowbadthatsounds,butitservesanimportantpurposein theearlystagesofminihabits—nurturingyourfeelingofconstantsuccess,whichbuildsyourself-efficacy.

Idid theOnePush-upChallengeforafewmonths.Oneofmyembarrassinglycommoncuesearlyonwasrightbeforebed(thedeadline).Thisisanindicatorofpoordisciplinebecause I failed to fit thehabit intomyscheduleduring theday.But,insteadofgoingtosleepdisappointed,Istillwenttosleepwithawin(andusually,I'dgetinsomebonusrepstoo).Whenyougotosleepfeelinglikeawinner, especially if you do it for many days in a row, it creates an internaldesiretoimproveevenmore.You'veheardthatsuccessbegetssuccess,right?It'strue. Successful people work harder than depressed people because they're

alreadysuccessful.Successignitespassionandaction.Thisiswhatminihabitswilldoforyoutoo.You'llfeelsuccessful,whichwillmakeyouwanttosucceedmoreandmore.Isaythisnotjustastheauthorofthisbookandthemindbehindthissystem,butasitsfirstguineapig.I'vetriedalotofothersystems,andmyminihabitsresultscrushanythingelseI'vetried.

Backtotheonepush-upstory:Afterawhileof“stealingwinsatthebuzzer,”Iwantedtodobetter.Ibegantogetmypush-upsinearlier.Thetimingstillvaried(different cues). This is why it's ok to meet the minimum just before bed. Itencourages you to build your own self-discipline. True self-discipline is notwhenyouhavesomeoneorderingyou todopush-ups, it'swhenyoudecideonyourowntodothem.It'sSELF-discipline.

Despitemygreatsuccessinreading,writing,andexercisingconsistently,itwasweird,becauseIfelt likeafraud.Ididn'thave“habitcues.”Allofthepopularhabitbookstalkaboutthem.Thesciencesaidtheywereessential.AllIhadweredaily requirements and a weekly exercise quota. This is supposed to be howpeoplefailtheirhabits,andyetI'mhavingwildsuccess.Why?

ThefirstthingIrealizedisthatthesestudiestestbig,willpower-guzzlinggoalslikegoingoutforamorningrunat6AM,doing100push-upsdaily,orstickingwith aworkout program.Mini habits, I realized, are so different that some oftheseruleschange.

Minihabitsaretoosmalltofail,evenwithoutacue.

You'll always have the ability to fit in your habit right before bedtime (minihabitsgenerallytakeaboutoneminuteeachtodo).Andthisnightlyhabitcheckwill become a habit too,which iswonderful because it keeps youmindful ofyourlife.DidImeetmyeasyrequirementstoday?Yes.Excellent!*sleep*

Sowhathappenswhenyouhave ahabit too small to fail that’swithout cues?Thedevelopmentofmultiplehabitcues.And this is reallyexciting.While Ilovemorning routines in particular andmay choose to develop one, it's beengreattohaveageneralhabitofwriting.Writingformeresemblesthestructureofabadhabit. I'msureIhavespecificcues(onecueI'venoticed isafter Ieat

something),butbecauseIhavemultiplecues,itseemslikeIjustdoitrandomly.

Butwait just a second... if it can takemonths to form even one habit with asingle cue, it must take years to create multiple cues! Nope. Mini habits areminusculeandeasy,andrememberthestudyearlieronhabitformationlength?Itconcludedthatthedifficultyofabehaviorisaprimarydeterminantofhowlongittakestomakeitintoahabit.34Thismeansthatminihabitscanbecomehabitualmuchfasterthantraditionalhabitscan.Thecaveat,ofcourse,isthatwhenyourgoal is 50words and youwrite 2,000 each day, itmight take longer tomake2,000 words a habit. But if you're crushing it to that degree, that's a great“problem”tohave,right?Andyes,ifyoudon'thaveonespecificcue,yourbrainwilltakelongertomakeithabit.Soifyou'vegottenhabitsyouwanttoaddtoyourlifeandaregoingforspeed,itwillbefastertosetsinglespecificcuesforyourminihabits.Ontheotherhand,ifyouwanttoflexibly“weave”somethingintoyouridentityandschedulelikeIhavewithwriting,thenmakeitageneralMiniHabit.

Arecapofcueoptions:

• Generalminihabitsaredoneonceperday.

• Time-cuedminihabitsaredoneat3PM,9:45PM,etc.

• Activity-cuedmini habits are done after lunch, before work, while driving,afterusingtherestroom,etc.

AFewMoreDetailsOnMyGeneralMiniHabitsExperienceSome people do their writing in the morning. I write at all times of the day.Writing has become a lifestyle habit for me. You know what happens to menow?I'llbewatchingaTVshowandgettheurgetowrite(agreat,weirdthing!).But when I'm watching something with other people, I don't get this urge,becauseit'sadifferentscenario.Ireactdynamicallyandnaturallytosituations.Whenafriendwasoverforacoupleofdays,Ididn'twriteasmuch,andthat'sexactlyhowIwanttolive.Ifthatbecamearecurringissuethatwasmakingmeunproductive,Icouldadjust.

Asyoucansee,thishassomepositiveimplicationsforfixingbadhabitsaswell.“Wild” bad habits growunintentionally, and grow everywhere.You'll have 98cues to smoke a cigarette, 53 cues towatchYoutube videos, and 194 cues tobrowse the Internetmindlessly. It'spossible to letyourgoodminihabitsgrow“wildly”likethis.Likeplantscompetingfornutrients,yourgoodhabitscanthencrowd out your bad habits. You can see that writing now competes withwatchingTVshowsforme.Thisislesslikelywithspecific-cuehabits,asthey'retetheredtojustonecue.Theycanbeverystrong,don'tgetmewrong,butunlessitsharesacuewithabadhabit,itwillbeisolatedfromit.

Awordofcaution:Youwanttobedeliberateaboutwhathabitsyou“letgrow”wildly.Forexample,somepeoplecan'trelaxnowbecausetheyareworkaholics.Theworkhabitgetssoingrainedintotheiridentitythatretirementconfusesandboresthem.Theywanttowork.I'vedecidedthatIwanttowriteandwritealotfor the rest of my life, so I'm willing to let my writing habit mesh into myidentity(sameforreadingandexercise).ButI'mnotsureI'dlikethesametypeof habit for bathing (once a day is fine). For that, I prefer a cued habit likeshoweringonceIgetoutofbed.Sleepschedulesandmealsmightalsobebeststructured so as to let the body get into a circadian and dietary rhythm,respectively.

If you want something to become an encompassing part of your life—goodexamples include thinking positive thoughts, writing, being thankful,exercising/beingactive,giving toothers,minimalist living, etc.—I recommendsettingnospecificcueforyourminihabit.Onlygiveyourselfadailydeadlineofdoingitbeforeyousleepforthenight.

If youwant a behavior to have a specific, carved out place in your life, set aspecificcueforit.Someexamplesincludeexercisingonspecificdays,readingbeforebed,andwritinginthemorning.Somepeopleliketohavetheirlivesverystructured,sotheymightchooseonlyspecificcues.It'salluptopreference.Youcanevenchooseacombinationof“wild”andcuedhabits.

Decision-makingIntheMomentEspecially if you're choosing general mini habits, understanding the decision-makingprocesswillhelpyoutodothemwhennecessary.

People have two states ofmindwhenmaking a decision. First,weweigh ouroptions,whichiscalledthedeliberativemindset.Thenwecommittoact,whichiscalledtheimplementalmindset.35

Thegoalistomovetotheimplementalframeofmind(insteadofgettingstuckinthedeliberativeframeofmind).

Oneadvantageofcuesistheycutoutthedeliberativeprocessandhelpyougetmorequicklytoanimplementalstateofmind.Thisishighlyappealing.Cuesarethe key factor in what’s known as implementation intentions, which arepredetermined decisions of exactly when and how you'll do something.Implementationintentionsareknowntoimprovegoalsuccess.Aminihabitwitha cuehas an evengreater chanceof successbecause it doesnot requiremuchcommitment.It'ssosmallthatit'sa“nobrainer.”

Mini habits can work without cues too, though; their minuscule size is whatelevatesthemabovecompetingbehaviors.Sowhileyou'dneedtogothroughthedeliberativeprocesswithouthavingacue,youshouldnotgetstuckwhentryingtodecidewhetherornot todoonepush-uporwrite50words. It's tooeasy tothinktoohardaboutit.Ifyoueverfindyourselfstalling,remindyourselfhowsmallyourtaskis.

Now,write down your selected cues for eachmini habit. I like to keep all ofmineundertheonceperdayatanytimeumbrella.Thiskeepsthingssimple.

Step4:CreateYourRewardPlan

If you're a prisoner hoping for parole,when do you think is the best time foryour parole hearing? I'll tell you. It's right after the parole judge takes a foodbreak.Astudyfoundthatjudgesruledmorefavorablyforprisonersjustafterafoodbreak(presumably,theyweremorewillingtolisten).36Whenyouviewthechart of parole grant rates, there is an obvious spike after each food break.Makingadifficultdecision likegrantingparole isapartofegodepletion—thesame energy resource that determines our willpower. And food is a provenrewardthatcanrestoreit.

Whatdoyou thinkwouldhappen ifyou tried tomakeanewhabitof stickingyour face in the dirt and eating some of it? (Let's assume that youwanted tobuildthishabit.)Youcouldn'tdoit.Theobviousreasoniswhowouldwanttodothat?Butthetechnicalreasonasfarasthehumanbrainisconcernediswhere'smy reward? There is no reward associated with that behavior. It's more likepunishment.Yourbrainwouldbeveryadamantagainstthis.

Ifyou'renotplayingsports,exercisecanfeellikeadrag.Mostpeopledon'tfeellikerunningaroundincircles,climbingafakestaircase,orpushing,pulling,andliftingvariousheavyobjectsatthegym.Itcomeswithafeelingofdiscomfort.

I can say from experience that going to the gym is three times moreuncomfortablewhenyou'reoutofshape. It feels likeyourmusclesaresaying,Hey, we were sleeping! After your hard workout, you get home, look in themirror,andyourrewardis...sweat?Atthispoint,yourbrainisprobablyaskingyouwheretherealrewardis.

Thereisanaturalrewardforthebrainwhenyouexercise.Inanaerobicexercise,the brain releases feel-good endorphins, also known as “runner's high.”Interestingly,weight-liftingcausesendorphinreleasetoo,butonlyifitisheavyandintense.Lightormediumintensityliftingwon'ttriggeranendorphinrelease

because it doesn't cause the body to switch to an anaerobic state. I like howwriterTomScheveputsit:

“Whenyourbodycrossesover fromanaerobic state toananaerobic state, it'ssuddenly operating without enough oxygen to satisfy the muscles and cellsscreamingoutforit.Thisiswhenthe‘runner'shigh’occurs.”37

Thinkoftheanaerobicstateasaretailstoreduringtheholidayseason.Thebodyisn'tkeepingupwithitsnormaloperations,soithastogointoanothermodetomeetincreaseddemand.

Endorphinsareanicenaturalrewardforthebrain,buttheymaynotbeenoughofa reward for somepeople,especiallyat first.Asexercisecan feelabit likepunishment,youmightneedabiggerreward.Theyuseexerciseaspunishmentinthemilitaryforareason!

Exercise has significant primary rewards of sculpted abs, feeling great, andbeinghealthy,butthesearedelayedfromthetimeyoufirstexercise.Meanwhile,yourbrainwantscakeNOW!Cakeisasensory(orprimary)rewardbecausethesugarhits the tastebuds andactivates the rewardcenter in thebrain.Exercisethough, offersmostly abstract (secondary) rewards, likewalking on the beachwith a great body, feeling satisfied with your effort, and other higher levelthinking.Secondaryrewards,asyoumightguess,takelongerto“takehold”inthebrain.

RewardAssociationIf exercise's endorphinsand thepromiseof eventual resultsdonot sufficientlyrewardyourbrainatfirst,youneedtocallinbackup.Andbecausetheworldisawesome,wedon'thavetoplaythehabitsgamefairly.Whatwecandoisattachcompletely unrelated rewards to certain behaviors.After some time, the brainwillassociatethebehaviorwiththereward,andthat'swhatwewant!Andlater,thebrainwon'tneedthe(attached)reward.

Ifyou'veeverwonderedwhysomanyfoodsincludesugar,itmightbebecausesugar is mildly to moderately addicting. Pretty much anything that delivers arewardtothebraincanbeaddicting.Itisn'thealthytoconsumesugarinexcess,

butconsumingsmallamountsofsugarfor thesakeofcontinuingan importanthabitmaybeworththecalories.Moderationisthekeyhere.

AcreativewayI like to rewardmybrain iswith laughter,whichreleases feel-good chemicals. I'll sometimes follow a writing session by watching thehilarious Bad Lip Reading videos on Youtube. Just for fun, the next timesomeone sees you watching a funny Youtube video, tell them you're trainingyourbrain.It'sscience!

Thesecrettobuildinghabitsistothinkofitliketeachingakidtorideabike.Atfirst,you're letting thekidpedal asyouensure themyou'reholdingon.Butatsomepoint,youletgoandthechildridesonwithoutyou.Justlikethis,atfirstwe offer the brain an extra reward after exercise, but eventually the sense ofsatisfactionandendorphinsareenoughforittosustainthebehavioronitsown.It learns to see thevalueof thesesecondary rewards,whicharemorepleasingandstrongerthansugar-ladenrewardsinmanyways,butittakestime.

Sensory (primary) rewards last as longas theexperience lasts.But the feelingyou get from being in great shape, or doing something positive for 98consecutivedaysstayswithyou.RightnowI'mlookingatagiantwallcalendarfullofcheckmarksthatremindsmeoftheprogressI'vemade.Itsoundslametolook at checks and feel good, butmybrainknows exactlywhat eachof thosemarksmeans.Infact,ifyouwanttobehappier,onestudyshowsthatcelebratingwins is themost effective strategy formaking us feel good about our lives.38That’squitetheendorsementforMiniHabits,whichisbasedoncelebratingandleveragingsmallwins.

RewardStrategyIt'snotallworkinexchangeforrewards,though.It'sfuntolivewellandthereissatisfactionindevelopingagoodhabit.Thatmeansifyou'reexercising,lookinthemirrorafterafewweeksandremindyourselfhowthatprogresscameabout.Ifyou'rewriting,celebrateyourbeefedupwordcount.Andevenifyou'reonlymeeting the minimum requirements on these, think of the great habit you'reformingtoserveasafoundationformore.

Butstrategymatterstoo.Ifyou'reusingthenocuestrategy,thenyoucaneither

seekrewardsafteryoutakeactionorstayconsciousofhowyoufeelandrewardyourselfwhenyouthinkyouneedit.Minihabitsoffertheperkofagreatersenseof satisfaction than traditional habits (i.e. a greater secondary reward!). If youthinkagreataccomplishmentfeelsgood,knowthatitfeelsevenbetterwhenyoudid 95%of it as bonuswork.Thoughwhen you do a lot of bonuswork, youmightwanttorewardyourselftoencouragethatbehavior.

Abstractrewardssuchasasenseofsatisfactionarelargelytiedtoyourmindset.ThisiswhyIemphasizethatyoucelebrateyoursmallsuccesses.Successleadstomore success, becausewe like the results and feelings of success.Learn tolovedelayedgratificationtoo.Theanticipationofabiggerrewardlaterisaformofrewardthatcanoftenconquerthetemptationtocashinonasmallerrewardnow. The more you practice and experience delayed gratification, the moreresponsiveyou'llbetoit!

My ruleof thumb is tokeepmyselfhappywhiledoing this. Iknowwhen I'mnearingburnout,andthat’swhenI'lltakearewardingbreak.

RewardsAppearToRestoreWillpowerRewardsencouragerepeatbehavior,butdidyouknowthattheyalsorestoreourwillpower?CognitivescientistArtMarkmansays,“Whenyoustandinfrontofthat buffet table filled with desserts, seek out a friend and have a funconversation.”39

Itmayseemlikeapuzzlingsuggestion,butrewardsofallkindsmaybeaviablewaytorestoreyourwillpower.

BasedonBaumeister's“egodepletion”concept,multiplestudieshaveconcludedthatpeoplecanovercomeegodepletionbyrestoringglucose.40Somescientists,however, wanted to put another willpower restoration theory to the test—rewards.Their theorywas that perhaps it is the reward fromeating sugar thatrestoreswillpower.41Sugarisknowntoactivatetherewardcentersinthebrain.

They started with typical exercises to deplete willpower. Then, one groupswishedasolutionsweetenedwithartificialsweetenerandspit itout (artificialsweetenersdonotactivatethebrain’srewardcenters).Theothergroupswished

withasugarysolutionandspititout(whichactivatesrewardcentersoncontactwithtastebuds).Theresultsshowedthatthepeoplewhoswishedwithartificialsweetener showed no improvement in ego-depletion, but those who swishedwith sugar did (i.e. their willpower was restored to normal levels).42 Becauseglucoselevelswerenotrestored,butwillpowerlevelswererestored,itappearsthatatleastsomepartofwillpowerrestorationcomesfromrewardingthebrain.Thisisgoodnewsforpeoplewhowanttoloseweight,asitmeansthatnon-foodrewardsmaybeeffectiveinrestoringwillpower.

SowhenMarkmansaysto“seekoutafriendandhaveafunconversation,”he'stellingyou to restore yourwillpowerwith a brain reward.Thenyou'll stand abetter chance against that chocolate cheesecake (hey, I said better chance).Willpower is commonly associatedwith avoiding bad habits like this, butwealsousewillpower to forceourself todogood things, so rewardswill helpusstickwithourgoodminihabitsby encouraging furtherbehaviorand restoringwillpower.

Step5:WriteEverythingDown

Writing somethingdown instantlyelevates it aboveallofyourother thoughts.Onestudyfoundthatallthoughts(positiveornegative)heldgreaterprominenceinthemindwhenwrittendownonpaper.43Thesameimpacthasnotbeenfoundfortyping.You’vegottohandwriteittoamplifyit.

Here are some strategies for tracking your progress. Inwhatever strategy youchoose,Irecommendthatyoucheckoffyoursuccessbeforeyougotosleep.Ifyoucheckoff your task early in theday, the senseof completionmightmakeyoufeellessmotivatedtodo“bonusreps.”Also,it'sagoodhabittocheckitoffbeforebedsothatyoudon'tforget.

TheBigCalendar(Recommended)ThisisthestrategyIusefortrackingmyminihabits.Iusealargedeskcalendaronthewallinmyroom.Iwritemyminihabitsonanearbydryeraseboard,andcheckoffeverydayonthecalendarthatIcompletethem(whichisEVERYday,except for the gym,which is 3x aweek). In the lower left corner ofmy dayboxes, I'llnotewhen Igo to thegym.Then, in theupper righthandcornerofSaturday'sbox(lastdayoftheweek),Idrawasmalltickmark.ThatwayIcanlookat thatcornerandinstantlyseehowmanytimesI'vebeentothegymthisweek (or previous weeks). It's simple and it works great. Checking off asuccessfuldaystillfeelsgreataftermonthsofminihabits!

IfyouhaveahybridMiniHabitlikedrivingtothegymordoingonepush-up,youcannotethembywritingGforGymorPforPush-up.Thenyoucanlookbackandseehowoftenyou'vebeenchoosingeach.

Another option is a yearly “at a glance” calendar if you're just going to bechecking off days.And a smart budgetmove is to print one of themany freeprintablecalendarsyou'llfindonline(tip:simplyprintoutyourGmailcalendar).Physically making a checkmarkmakes your success feel more tangible than

digitaltrackingdoes.Additionally,ifyouputitinaprominentplacewhereyou'llseeitoften, it'sgoingtomakeyoumindfulofyourminihabits,yourprogress,andyoursuccess.Don'tunderestimatetheimpactofthis!

Jerry Seinfeld appears to have been a pioneer in mini habits. He famouslymarkedeachdayonhiscalendarwithabigXifhecompletedhisjokewritingtask. He recognized that daily progress was the key to forming a habit andimprovinghiscraftoftellingjokes.

Hefirst toldyoungcomedianBradIsaacabouthisproductivitysecretbeforeashowoneday.BradwroteaboutSeinfeld’sresponseinanarticleforLifehacker:

“Afterafewdaysyou'llhaveachain.Justkeepatitandthechainwillgrowlongereveryday.You'lllikeseeingthatchain,especiallywhenyougetafewweeksunderyourbelt.Youronlyjobnextistonotbreakthechain.”44

Thisisagoodsummationofminihabits.Wedon'twanttobreakthechain.Andtheonlyexcuseforbreakingthechainisforgetting,becauseminihabitsaretooeasytofail.Butforgettingisapoorexcusetoo,becauseyourcalendarwillbeinplain sight and every night before bed you'll ask, “did I do my mini habitstoday?”Andjust to throwthisout there, Idon'tseeminihabitsasafadyou'lldrop in a fewmonths, but as a lifetime pursuit. It works too well and is tooflexibletoquit!

Bothwritingdownyourminihabitsinitiallyandcheckingthemoffasyougoisextremelyimportantforyoursuccess.Don'tskipit.Regardlessofhowyoutrackyour mini habits completion, I suggest you at least handwrite the habitsthemselvesinaplaceyoucansee.

DigitalTrackingSome people will want to use their smartphone, and while I prefer the old-fashionedwaynow,smartphoneshavesomesignificantadvantages.Thefirstisaccessibility—people carry their smartphones with them everywhere, even onvacationsoverseas.Thesecondadvantage is invisibilityandreminders—someappscanremindyoutodoyourminihabits,orserveasaconcretecuetotakeaction.

HerearethebestappstouseforminihabitsonIOSandAndroid.

LiftforIOS(free)IfyouwanttogodigitalandhaveaniPhone,IhighlyrecommendtheLiftapp.Ittracks your daily or weekly progress in whatever habits you set. It meshesperfectlywiththeMiniHabitssystemandletsyouseehowmanydaysinarowyou've completedyourMiniHabit. It evenconnectsyou tootherLift users togiveyouafeelingofcommunitysupport.

Warning: The appmight suggest that you set a vague goal like “drinkmorewater.” I’ve seen this exact goal recommended.Never do this.How does one“drinkmorewater?”Ifyouswallowafewdropsofwaterintheshower,isthatgood enough? Vague goals aren't measurable and don't give you concrete “Isucceeded”or“Ifailed”feedback.Concretefeedbackiscriticalforreinforcingbehaviors.Makeyourminihabitsveryspecificandverysmall.Youcansetthemini habit of drinking one glass of water (with any of the cues types), forexample.

HabitStreakPlanForAndroid(free)ThereisaLiftappforAndroidtoo,butit'sinBetaandcurrentreviewsrateitat3.1outof5(notgreat).Themostpopularandbest-ratedhabit-trackingapponAndroidiscalledHabitStreakPlan.Itevenallowsyoutosetreminders,whichcanserveasyourdailycuetodoyourminihabitsand/orasacuetocheckyourminihabitsbeforebedtime.

The app also tracks howmanydays you've done it. Itwill show52/53 if youmiss one day out of 53 days. Aim for 100% success with no excuses, but ifsomething crazy happens—and it better be crazy given the size of theserequirements—andyoumissaday,itwon'thurtyou.Ifyoumisstwodaysinarow, something iswrong.Theseareway tooeasy tobemissing twodays inarow.Flukeshappen,buttheydon'thappenthatoften.

Again, do not set any vague goals as aMiniHabit.Vague goals or habits areunfocused,meaningless,andaterribleidea.

Desktop/LaptopSolutions

I think the best simple habit tracker for the desktop is Joe's Goals(joesgoals.com).It'sverysimple.

Lift.dois thewebsitefor thedesktopversionof theLiftapp.Youcanalsouseanynumberofonlinecalendars.

MyfriendHarryChealsohasasolutionforgoals/habitscalledGoalsOnTrack(goalsontrack.com).OfallthegoalsystemsI'veused,hisismyfavorite.ImadealotofprogresswhenIstartedusingit.Thereisahabit-trackingfeatureinhisprogram,soifyou'relookingforanall-in-onesolutiontotrackgoalsandhabits,I'drecommendthis.I'mwhollyfocusedonbuildinghabits,butnoteveryonehasthatdesireorluxury.

Overall,Ithinkthemobileappsareabetterchoicethancomputerappsbecausedesktopsandlaptopslackthe24/7accessibilityofcellphones.

FinalNoteAboutAllDigitalAppsYou'regoingtoseeideasforpre-madehealthyhabitstoaddfromtheseappsandwebsites.Resist the urge to start these habits unless they are alreadyminified(unlikely). If you really likeoneof them,make sure that youminify it beforeaddingittoyourrepertoire!Itlooksfuntotrydoing100push-upsperday,butit'slessfunwhenyouquit.It'smorefuntohaveonepush-upperdayasagoalandblow that tinygoalaway for200+days ina row.Youcan findminihabitideas at http://minihabits.com/mini-habit-ideas/. That page will be updatedregularlywithnewhabitsand“comboplans.”Comboplansarehabitpackagesyou can try that work well together. They’re mainly for fun, so you can callyourself cool phrases like “The Fit Writer,” which includes these daily minihabits:

• Onepush-up(oranotherexerciseMiniHabit)

• Write50words

• Read2pagesinabook

Step6:ThinkSmall

Whyarewemakingthesehabitssosmallwhenwecouldaimhigher?Andwhatif you stop at your small goal? Is it still useful? Yes, and it has to do withwillpower.

The advantage of willpower is that it can be strengthened. Very disciplinedpeopleare thosewhohave strengthened theirwillpower.But that'sonly togetthem started.The extremely fit people you see in thegymdon't have to forcethemselves to exercise anymore.Theydon't actuallyneedwillpower anymore,becauseexercisehasbecometheirbrain'sfirstpreference.Whenyoudevelopahabit,you'llsay,“Brain,weneedtoexercise,”andyourbrainwillreply,“Iwasalreadyonmywaytothetreadmill.Trytokeepup.”

Wewanttodothreethingsontheroadtohabit:

• Strengthenourwillpower

• Makeprogressinthepresentmoment

• Notexhaustourwillpower

Losinganyoneofthosethreethingswouldbeaproblem:Whoisokwithalwayshavingweakself-control?Whowantsto“train”for3monthsbeforemakinganyprogress in life? Who wants to burn out from willpower exhaustion?Uh...Nobody.

Seeingthosethreetallordersdoesn'tinstillconfidenceinapossibleanswer,butsmallstepssatisfyallthreerequirements.We’llcoverthem,onebyone.

MiniHabitsForWillpowerStrength

Whatgoodisstrongwillpowerifyouonlyhaveitfortwohoursaday?Wewantour willpower to last the whole day. Endurance training at the gym involvesliftinglighterweightswithhigherrepetition,whichtrainsthemuscletoendure.Minihabitsare thesameway.We'regivingourselves low-willpower tasks,butwith high frequency. It takes very littlewillpower to do one push-up (perhapsjust a sliver more than you'd think though—starting something truly is thehardestpart,especiallyinregardstowillpower).

Over time, this frequent repetition of forcing ourselves to perform achievabletasksmakesourwillpowerstronger.It’spractice.

MiniHabitsForProgressThe biggest question of the Mini Habits system is surely regarding themeaningfulnessofdoingjustonepush-upadayorthinkingonepositivethoughtperday.Onewaytoanswerthisistotryityourselfandseewhathappens,butthisquestionstillneedstobeaddressedlogically.Howcanthispracticeofdoingseeminglymeaningless quantities ofwork pay offwith real results?There aretwowaysthatitpaysoff.

A.MiniHabitsBonusReps:Seeingyourself takeaction ismore inspiringand motivating than anything else. In fact, this is a key strategy ofMiniHabits—once you're fully motivated to do something, you don't needwillpower.Even thoughwe're relying 100%onwillpower to do theseminihabits,motivationplaysarolewhenwechoosetodomorethanthat.Iusuallyfindmyself highlymotivated once I start my habits, but only occasionallybefore I take action. Mini habits aren't anti-motivational, they generatemotivation. I failed with getting motivated first for ten years, so I'm veryfamiliarwithitandslightlygrumpyaboutit.

Whenever I do any mini habit, I almost always do more. And by almostalways,Imeanwellover90%ofthetime,andbymore,Imeanalotmore.Lay'sPotatoChipshadthefamousslogan,“Betyoucan'teatjustone.”Well,I bet you can't do just one push-up or write a fewwords. Once you start,you'regoing towantmore.At thatpoint, it'saseasy tocontinueas tostop.But what if you don't continue? What if you only meet the minimumrequirementeverysingleday?Isallhopelost?No,notatall.

B.TheMiniHabitsSafetyNet(developingactualminihabits):Thehopewithminihabitsisthatyou'llshootfor50wordsadayanddevelopthehabitof2,000wordsaday,butthatmaynothappenrightaway.Ifyoustickwithyourminihabitdespiteonlymeetingthesmallrequirement,itwillformintoahabit,andbecomeeasiertodomoreofit.Iknowthebiggesthurdleforsomepeople is going to be patience.You don'twant to be the personwriting 50wordsaday—youwanttocatapultyourselfinto4,000wordsadayandgettoyourdreamsasfastaspossible.Ihavegoodnewsforyou.Ifyoucanwrite4,000words a day, do it.Withmini habits, there is no upper limit.Knockyourself out and overwork yourself. As long as you can meet your minirequirementthenextdaytoo,you'refine.

Toconclude,ifyoucanonlymeetthesmallrequirement,itwillstillbecomeahabit (and relatively quickly based on the small size). Once it is a habit,you're inperfectposition tobuildupon it. Imean that literally—theperfectfoundation for doingmore of something is having an existing habit of thatbehavior.

Knowthis:minihabitsneverholdyouback.Thatwouldbelikesayingasparkholdsbackafirefromstarting.Minihabitsaresparkswithunlimitedpotential.“Normalgoals”mightbe2,000wordsofwritingperday,butthatcanbecomeaceiling as well as a minimum. You'll feel satisfied at 2,000 words and say,“That'senough.”Withmy50wordgoal,Ihavewrittenmorethan5,000wordsinoneday.Thisissoimportanttounderstand,becausewiththewrongmindset,someonecouldthinkthatasmallgoalcouldholdthemback.Atsomepoint,thatspark is going to become a small flame, and later we'll all be roastingmarshmallowsoverthegiantbonfire,tellingstoriesofyore.

Ifyouwantprogressrightnow,you'llgetit.Workyourselfintothegroundifyouplease.And Imention that becausemanyofyouaregoing tobemotivated tostartoffstrong.

MiniHabitsToMitigateWillpowerExhaustionItouchedonthisinthepreviousparts,butwhatmakesminihabitsgreatisthatyou'llneverhaveanexcuseforfailure,you'llneverfearfailure,andyou'llneverfeelguilty.Evenifyourunoutofwillpower,therequirementissosmallthatyou

canfindawaytogetitdone.Ican'tthinkofatimewhenmywillpowerwassoweakthatIwouldbeunabletodoapush-up,readacouplepagesinabook,orwrite50words.Notasingletime.

For all of these reasons, small steps don’t hold you back—they’re critical forsuccess.

Step7:MeetYourSchedule&DropHighExpectations

Expectations are a tricky thing in life. It's helpful to have generally highexpectations for yourself, because it increases your ceiling. In otherwords, ifyoudon'tbelieveyoucanbeingoodshape,youneverwillbe(asshownintheself-efficacy study). It's not that belief increases your ability to do things—itincreasesyourwillingness to try. Ifyounever try toget ingoodshape, it'snotgoingtohappen!

Highexpectationsofa specificnature,however, suchas runningeightmilesadayorwriting3,000wordsaday,arebestavoided.Aproblemyou'regoingtorunintois“sneakyswelling”ofyourtargets.Evenifyouhaveyourminihabitswritten down in plain sight, your brainmight pick up on how for the last 20days,you'veactuallywrittenabout1,500wordsaday,not50words(apersonalexample from the early days). Your brain is always going to “register” thebehavior,nottheintention.

Subconsciously,overachievementcansetanewexpectationinyourbrain—onethatcarriesallof theweightandpressureof the typicalgoalsyou'veset in thepast (you know, the ones that don't work). So it's vitally important to remindyourselfthatyourdailygoalhasNOTchanged.It'sstillonly50wordsaday.Ifyou're continuing to exceed it, this can feel disappointing, because youwon'twanttobreakyour1,500words-per-daystreak.Tosoothethisconcern,remindyourself of how you got to that point (with the low goal) and that you'rewelcometocontinuetowritethatmuchifyouwant,butyouareNOTallowedtofeel guilty or like a failure if you write 50 words. 50 words is SUCCESS.PERIOD! Not even all caps can stress this enough, because if you get thiswrong,thenreadingthisbookisawasteofyourtime.Allofthebenefits,power,andadvantagesofthisstrategyhingeonyourabilitytokeepyourgoalsmallonpaperandinyourmind.

Ifatanytimeyoufeelhesitant tomeetyourgoal,checkyourmindforhidden

requirements. Are you really shooting for your mini goal, or has your targetgrown?Refusebiggertargets—youcandomorewithsmallerones.

Instead of high expectations for quantity of work, we're going to place ourexpectationsandenergyonconsistency.Life'smostpowerfultoolisconsistency,because that's the onlyway for behaviors to become habits, andwhen a non-habit becomes habit, it literallymeans that you've gone from fighting againstyourbraintojoiningforceswithit.

Step8:WatchForSignsOfHabit,ButBeCarefulNottoJumptheGun

Thisstepisanotherreminderofpatience.TheMiniHabitsstrategyworks,butifyou drop a behavior before it's truly habit and go on to add your next set ofhabits,thenyou'regoingtoriskdroppingeverythinglikeanunskilledjuggler.(Iam an unskilled juggler, but if I set amini habit to practice juggling for oneminutedaily,IbetIwouldgetgoodatit.)

Signsthatit'shabit:

• Noresistance:itfeelseasiertodothebehaviorthannottodoit.

• Identity: you now identify with the behavior and would feel completelyconfidentsaying,“Ireadbooks,”or“I'mawriter.”

• Mindless action:you'll engage in thebehaviorwithoutmakingan executivedecision.Youwon'tthink,Ok,I'vedecidedtogotothegym.You'lljustgatheryourthingsandgobecauseit'sTuesday,orbecauseitfeelslikeit'stime.

• Youdon'tworryaboutit:startingout,youmightworryaboutmissingadayorquittingearly,butwhenabehaviorishabit,youknowthatyou'llbedoingitunlessthere'sanemergency.

• Normalization:habitsarenon-emotional.You'renotgoing tobeexcited that“you'rereallydoingit!”onceitishabit.Whenabehaviormakesthetransitiontonormalcy,it'shabit.

• It'sboring:goodhabitsarenotexciting, they're justgood foryou.You'llbemore excited about lifebecause of yourhabits, but don't expect itwith thebehavioritself.

Warning:HowtoHandleOverachievementOverachievementisonereasonIlovethissystem.Wepreviouslydiscussedhowoverachieving your target repeatedly can create an expectation to do itconsistently before your willpower can support that much work. This issomewhatgoodandsomewhatbad—it'sgoodbecauseyourbrainisbeginningtomakeitahabit,butit'sbadbecauseitraisesthebartoosoon,whichremovesthemanybenefitsofhavingminihabits.Startingsmallandremovingthepressureofexpectationsistherecipewe'reusingforsuccess,anditworkswell,sowewanttokeepitaslongaspossible.

Again, I'm not saying you can't domore. If you reallywant to run fivemilestoday,butyourtargetisjusttorunoutthefrontdoor,thenthat'sgreat!Goaheadandrunthefivemiles,butdon'tchangeyourrequirementtofivemiles.Alwaysbewillingtomeetyourtinyrequirementandgobackinside(youwon'tusuallychoosetogobackinside,evenbeingcompletelyfreetodoso).

If you’re not overachieving right away, don’t worry. My writing mini habitcaught fire right away, but it wasn’t until the 57th day that I saw consistentlysignificantoverachievement inmy readingminihabit.Someminihabit sparkswilltakelongertoignitethanothers.Itmostlydependsonyourinterestlevelinthehabitandyourperceiveddifficultyincontinuingbeyondyourinitialtarget.

I’vewrittenwellovermyrequirementalmosteveryday,butIcontinuetotakecomfort inmyfreedom.Icanstopat50words.IfIhaveplans,Icanmeettherequirementinminutesandenjoymyday.

Ifyouoverachieve,that'sgreat.Ifnot?That'sstillgreat.Notjustok,butgreat.Wecelebrateallprogress,because it'snoteasy tochangeyourbrain.But thenagain, it iskindofeasy todo it thisway, isn't it?Compared towrestlingwithsomemassivegoalandrunningonwillpowerfumes,thisisarelativecakewalkwithbetterresults.

EightMiniHabitRules

“Knowtheruleswell,soyoucanbreakthemeffectively.”―DalaiLamaXIV

Somerulesaremeanttobebroken.Thesearen’t,buttheDalaiLamaquotestillapplies.Onceyoumastersomething,youcanmanageitwithoutrules.Thekeyisinunderstandingtheprinciplesbehindtheserules.

Sincetheserulesarehelpfulandpositiveanyway,youwon’tneedtothinkaboutbreaking them. In fact, if you find yourself struggling to make progress withyourminihabits,it’sprobablybecauseyou’rebreakingoneoftheserules.

1.Never,EverCheat

ThereareafewwaystocheattheMiniHabitssystem.Thefirst,mostcommonway tocheat is togiveyourselfaminihabit suchasonepush-upperday,butsecretlyrequirethatyoudomorethanthesinglepush-up.Thereasonwhyyouneed tobe really, really careful not todo this is because every extraounceofrequirementyouputonyourselfisgoingtorequiremorewillpowertomeet.Andwhile you can likely handle that extra willpower load, you may be pursuingmultiple habits at once, andwewant to guarantee success, not toe the line ofsuccess and failure.You are always allowed to do extra, so let the extra repscomefromyou,notyourrequirement.Ifyouwanttodomoreinanysessionbutfeelresistance,setadditionalsmallrequirementsafteryourMiniHabit.

Unlikeotherhabitprogramsandself-helpstrategies,discouragementisveryrarewithminihabits.Ifyouonlyhavetodoasinglepush-uporsit-up,whatcanstopyou fromsucceeding? Itdoesn'tmatter thatyourgoal is small.You're trainingyour brain for success andbuilding up a smaller version ofwhat youhope toaccomplishsomeday(anddependingonyoureagerness,somedaycouldbeverysoon!).Ifyourresultsarelikemine,you'llbehittingyourbiggertargetssoonerthanexpected.Butplease,please,don't let that raiseyourexpectations.Expectlittle and you'll have the hunger to domore.When you realize how powerfulstartingis,andthatyes,youhadplentyofmotivationtodothesethingsallalong(whichwasdormantuntilyoustarted),lifegetsveryexciting.

2.BeHappyWithAllProgress

Beinghappywithsmallprogressisdifferentfromhavinglowstandards.There'saquotebyBruceLeethatsumsitup:“Behappy,butneversatisfied.”BruceLeedidmorewithhislimitedlifetimeof32yearsthantwotypicalpeopledowith80yearseach,soIlistentohim.

InDerekSivers'TEDTalk,heshowedavideoofamandancinginafieldatanoutdoorevent.45Themanlookedabitsillyouttherebyhimself,dancingwildlytothemusic.Afterafewsecondsofdancing,anotherpersonjoinedhim.Thenthereweretwo.Afteranotherseveralseconds,anotherpersonjoinedthem.Andthen another.Andwhen the group reached about 10 people, a giant crowd ofpeoplerushedintojointhem.Dozensofpeopleweredancingwildly.Itisquitethespectacle!

Andhowdiditstart?Onemandanced.

This concept shows exactly what mini habits can do for you. The crowd ofpeoplewho joined late are like your dormant dreams—shy and scared to takeaction. They aren't confident enough to dance in the spotlight. That firstmandancing is likeyourdecision to take thefirstsmallstep.Thenyounotice,hey,I'm actually doing this right now. That's when your dormant dreams andpassionsrushintoencourageyou.Youalreadyhavealltheinspirationyouneedinsideofyou,butitmaybedormant.Awakenitwithminihabits.

Minihabitsareprettysimplebrain trickat thecore,butalsoa lifephilosophythatvalues starting, lettingactionprecedemotivation, andbelieving that smallstepscanaccumulateintogiantleapsforward.Whenyoucompleteaminihabit,itmeans yourminiman is dancing—cheer him on, because he's starting yourpersonalgrowthparty!Celebrateallprogress.

3.RewardYourselfOften,EspeciallyAfteraMiniHabit

Whatifrewardsthemselveswererewarding?Thatis,whatiftherewasabenefittoreceivingarewardotherthantherewarditself?Wetypicallythinkofrewardsasthingswegetfordoingsomethinggood,butrewardscangivebacktoo.WhenyoucompleteaMiniHabitand rewardyourself—whether it'swith food,a funnight out, or a monologue in the mirror about how amazing you are—yourrewardisgoingtopayyoubackbyencouragingyoutoperformyourminihabitagain.

Ultimately, this creates a positive feedback loop. You will get “addicted” tolivingagreatlife,andifthat'snotideal,Idon'tknowwhatis.Aperfectbehaviorwouldrewardyounowandlater.Sincemosthealthybehaviors(likegnawingonraw broccoli) offer limited reward now and greater long-term rewards, it'shelpfultoattachsomeformofencouragementtotheactivityintheearlystages.Later,whenyounoticehowgreatyoulookandfeel,youcanassumeit'sfromthebroccoliandsmile.

Starting is thehardestpart,both in themomentand in theearlydaysofhabit-building.Initially,youwillseelimitedresults.Afterahardworkoutyouwillfeelsore,but look in themirrorandseenochange.Aftereatingbroccoli,youwillfeelaboutthesame.Afterwritingondayone,youwillnothaveafullbook.Butwhen you do these things over the long haul, you can end up with a fit andhealthybodyandseveralfull-lengthnovels.

Idon't imaginepeoplewill forget to reward themselves,but this“rule” isherejustincase.

4.StayLevel-headed

Aimforacalmmindsetandtrust intheprocess.InthesepastmonthsthatI'veseensomuchprogress,Ihavenotbeenoverlyexcitedand“pumpedup.”Ithasbeen boring at times. The difference between winners and losers is that thelosersquitwhenthingsgetboringandmonotonous.It'snotaboutmotivation,it'saboutleveragingandconservingyourwillpowertoformlifelonggoodhabits.

Thecalmmindsetisthebestmindsetforbuildinghabitsbecauseit'ssteadyandpredictable. You may get excited as you make progress, but don't let thatexcitement become your basis for taking action. This shift to a reliance onmotivation/emotionsiswhatfoilsmanypersonaldevelopmentplans!

5.IfYouFeelStrongResistance,BackOff&GoSmaller

Common “wisdom” tells us thatwe've got to push through strong feelings ofresistance. Well, that's stupid. We've already established that willpower islimited,andifyou'repushingbeyondyourmeansnow,itmeansyou'regoingtocrashandburnlater.Ifyouthinkthatyoucanjustdoitlateraswell,thenyou'renottakingintoaccountthatyoumightnothaveenoughdesireorwillpowertodoitlater.

Let's picture it. You're sitting down, and youwant to exercise, but you reallydon't feel like it.There's intense resistance.What doyoudo? In this scenario,youdon'twant towrestleyourbrain ifyoucancoax it intodoing thingsyourway.Suggestprogressivelysmallerandsmallertasksuntiltheresistanceyoufeelisminimal.

Ifyourgoalistoworkoutatthegym,scalebacktorequiringyourselftodrivetothegym.Sayit'sreallybad,andthebestyoucandoisopenyourclothesdrawer.Afteryoudothat,pickupyourworkoutclothesandputthemon.Ifthissoundsstupidtoyou,that'sgreat!Whenitsoundsstupid,thatmeansyourbrainisgivingthe go-ahead. These “stupid small” steps slide under the brain's radar like anexpert jewel thief avoids security cameras and trip sensors. And before yourbraincatcheson,you'llbeonatreadmillatthegym.Nostepistoosmall.

The good news is that even if you burn yourself out, the solution for takingactiondespiteburnoutisstupidsmallsteps.Burnoutiswillpowerexhaustion—ithappens when people force themselves to do too much for too long. But asyou'reexhaustedonthefloor,youcanappealtoyourbrainandsay,“Hey,couldwe justdoonepush-up rightnow?”After that,youmightgetmotivated todomore,oryoucouldsetafewmoreofthesestupidsmallsteps.

Ifyouthinkthisstrategysoundsabsolutely,completelyridiculousandstupid,it'sbecauseyouthinkyoucandomore.Yourprideistellingyouthatyou'rebetter

than having to break tasks down into small steps. But every giantaccomplishmentismadeofverysmallstepsanyway,andtotakethemoneatatimelikethisisnotweak,butprecise.BeforeIdidthefirstpush-upoftheOnePush-up Challenge, I felt “above” doing it. I thought that one push-up wasworthless(becauseit'saboutlikeclappingmyhandsasfarasexercisegoes).Butwhenithelpedmeexercisefor30minutes,itchangedmymind.Sotrythisout,andseeforyourselfhowyoucanbenearlyunstoppablewiththisstrategy.

WhenIfeelresistancetoanytask,Imakeitsmaller.Problemsolved.

6.RemindYourselfHowEasyThisIs

When you look at your mini task and feel resistance, you're probably notthinkingabouthoweasyitis.

WhenIwasamonthintomyminihabits,Ifeltstrongresistancetoreadingmytwopageslateonenight.IwasthinkingofhowmuchIhadreadthedaybefore,and assumed that I needed to replicate that. I had to remind myself that therequirementwasstilljusttwopages.

Anotherinterestingandencouraginganecdoteinfavorofminihabitsisrelatedto Allen Carr's book titled The Easy Way To Quit Smoking. Carr’s book hasproducedgreater-than-expectedresultsforhelpingpeoplequitsmoking.Anddoyou know what the basic technique is? Do you know what the differencebetweenCarr’sbookandmostotherquitsmokingstrategiesis?

RickPaulasdiscussesthesurprisingsuccessinhisarticleaboutthebook:

What’smost shocking about the book’s contents is perhaps what’s missing.There are no stats about lung cancer, heart attacks, or strokes. No scaretactics likewhat thesocialprankstersatTheTruth.comdabble in.Noveiledthreats to the state of your sex life by focusing on bad breath and stainedteeth. “The health scares make it harder [to stop],” writes Carr. And areobviouslyineffective.

[Paulasmentionshow thebook repeats]Quitting is easy.Quitting is easy.Quittingiseasy.

“It’s very repetitive,” saysTompkins [a smoker].“And Iwasawareof thatwhilereading.Like,isthissomehypnosisthing?”46

Carr’s fivehourseminarbasedon thebookhasa53.3%success rate,and thatabsolutelyblowsothermethodsoutofthewater(othermethodshavearoughly10-20%successrate).It’ssurprising,becauseit’sjustinformation.Itisn’thandson.It’snotapatchthatdeliversnicotinetothebloodstream.

Andthesecret?Thekeyingredient?Themagic?

He gets smokers to believe, consciously and subconsciously, that quittingsmokingiseasy.Whenyoubelieve,asmanydo,thatquittingsmokingissohard—doesn'titmakesensethatmaybeyourownmindismakingitdifficult?

Mini habits make you believe that adding healthy behaviors is easy. Even ifyou're skeptical now, you'll have no choice but to believe when it startshappening.

Forgetfailurestogetmotivated;forgetepicwillpowerbattles.Thebarissolowherethatit’spossibletoneverlose.Andwhenyouneverlose,youtendtowin.Over time, your subconscious mind will change, and it gets easier to changeyourbehaviorfromthere.

Andletmeaskyou—whywerethese(andotherhealthybehaviors)everdifficultinthefirstplace?What'schallengingabouttypingwords?What'ssotoughaboutmoving your body? What's the big deal with sitting still for an hour tocomprehendtext?Thereasonthesebecamesuchgiantchallengesinourlivesisbecause we were indoctrinated into a motivation-based society that says youhavetogetpumpeduptoliveyourdreamsordoyourlaundry.Ourbrainshavebeentrainedincorrectlywithsocietalnorms,limitingbeliefs,andoverwhelminggoals.

The typical person’s subconscious mind is completely feral, dominating theprefrontalcortex,becausepeoplerunoutofenergytryingtochangetheirpoorlycalibratedbrainallatonce.Minihabitsarethewayforyoutosay,No,youknowwhat?It'snothardtoexercise.It'seasy.I'mgoingtodropanddoasinglepush-uprightnow,andthat'sreally,reallyeasy.It'ssoeasy,Icandoiteverysingleday.AndIwill.Thenyou'llbe inpush-upposition,having started, and realizethat it's also easy to do onemore push-up... and that it's relatively easy to do

several more after that. And by that time, you will be inspired to continuebecauseyourexistingdesiretoexerciseinlifewillconnectwiththerealizationthatyoucanactuallydothis.

I'mexcitedforyou.You'regoingtorealizethateasyandhardarerelative.Whyelse would some people struggle to get out of bed and run around the blockwhileothersrun100mileraces?It'sadifferenceofthemind.Usingmostofthestrategies available to you today, you're going to struggle mightily to changeyourbrain.They'reallbasedonmotivatingyouortellingyouthatyoucan'tgiveinwhenitgetstough.Butthatkindofcheapinspirationisn'tgoingtolast.

Minihabitsaredesignedtochangeyourbrainandyourlifefromtheinsideout.Yourmini requirement becomes a recurring spark inside of you thatwillrefusetodieout.THATisinspiring.You'llbeinweekthreeandrealize,wow,I'mstilldoing this. Inweeksix,you'll see results (wordcount,muscle,weightloss, etc.) and prior beliefs about what you could do will shatter before youreyes. As long as you think small, you're going to be a juggernaut. Themomentumyoubuildandthemindsetshiftthatwilltakeplacewillamazeyou,asithasme.

Didyouknowthatyou'rereadingproofofminihabits?Howdidachronicallyundisciplinedguywrite thisbookwhilewriting3-4 thousandwordarticles forhisblog?Igavemyselfasmallrequirement—justwrite50wordsaday.Inthefirstweek,Iaveragedabout1,000words.Inthesecondweek,1,500.Inthethirdweek,2,000wordseveryday.Iwasn'ttryingharder;itwaseasierthanbefore.

I hope you can see the changes ahead with using mini habits. It's ok to getexcited,butexcitementwon'tsustainyou.Thatwillbeyourdailydevotiontodothesmallestthinginordertomakethebiggestdifferenceinyourlife.

Ifyou’reskeptical,thisisfinetoo—justgiveitatryandyou'llsee.

7.NeverThinkAStepIsTooSmall

Ifyou thinkastep is toosmall,you'reapproaching thisfromthewrongangle.Everybigprojectismadeofsmallstepsjustlikeeveryorganismismadefrommicroscopic cells. Taking small steps keeps you in control over your brain.Small steps are sometimes the only way to move forward if you have weakwillpower.Learntolovethemandyou'llseeincredibleresults!

8.PutExtraEnergyandAmbitionTowardBonusReps,NotABiggerRequirement

Ifyou'reanxious tomakebigprogress,pour thatenergy intoyourbonus reps.Biggerrequirementslookgoodonpaper,butonlyactioncounts.Bethepersonwith embarrassing goals and impressive results instead of one of the manypeoplewithimpressivegoalsandembarrassingresults.

FinalWords

AnOptionalModification-IncreaseMini-requirementIncrementally(Careful!)

ThereisamodifiedversionoftheMiniHabitssystemwhereyouscaleupyourrequirementgradually.Iprefernottodothis,becausewithagreaterrequirement,youlosefreedom,flexibility,andautonomy.Ihaveneverfoundtheneedtodothiswithmyminihabits,becausetherequirementonlyaffectsmewhenImeetthebareminimum(andonthosedays,I'mhappytheminimumiseasy).

The best reason for you to increase your requirement would be if you findyourselfonlymeetingtheminimumdayafterday.Iwouldstillgiveitatleastamonthbeforeyoutrythis.Ifyougoalongtimewithoutdoingextrabeyondyoureasy commitment, then mini habits might not be as effective for you as forothers.Don'tforgetthesafetynetthough—itwillstilldevelopintoahabit,andasmallhabitisrelativelyeasytoscaleup.

Ifyouworkbetterwitharigidstructure, it'ssomethingtoconsider.Butuntilabehavior is habit, it's risky to increase your requirements. If you do, Irecommenddoingitverygradually.

Onceyouhaveahabit,youcanexperimentwithhigher requirements (suchasmynormal-sizedgymrequirementafter6monthsofdoingonepush-updaily).Sinceyou'rebuildingoffofastrongbaseat thatpoint,andhavebuiltupyour

willpower,biggerrequirementsaremuchmoreattainable.Butagain,Iwouldbeinnorushtodothisifyou'regettinggoodresultswithyourminirequirements.

Itmaybe thatyouneed60daysofmeetingthebareminimumbeforeyoucanleveragethehabit.This ishowitwaswithreadingforme(asnoted,day57iswhenIsawabigimprovement).

I first started with one push-up per day, and for about sixmonths I only didabout1-20push-upsdaily.Ialsoexercisedatthegymoccasionally,buttostart,thiswasall Ihadtodo.In lateJune,Ichangedmygoal todrivingto thegymthreetimesperweek.I'mnotsureIcouldhavedonethistostartwith(maybe),but I know thatdoing theonepush-upchallengehelpedmebuildupmy self-disciplineandwillingnesstoexercisetomakethisleapeasy.

ApplyThisStrategyElsewhere

MiniHabitsismorethanjustasystemtoteachyouhowtodevelophealthynewhabits—it’saguideforself-control.Nowyouknowhowyourbrainworks,whymotivationfails,andhowtomanageyourwillpower tomake it last.Use thesetechniquesforanysituationinwhichyouwanttotakeaction.Thebetteryougetatminihabits,themoresuccessyou'llhaveinallareasofyourlife.

Thisistheendofthebook.Ihopeyouenjoyedreadingit.There’saquoteinTheNewRadicals’song,YouGetWhatYouGive, thatsays,“Everynewbeginningcomesfromsomeotherbeginning’send.”IhopetheendofthisbookisthenewbeginningofaveryexcitingMiniHabitsjourneyforyou.Iwishyouverysmallsuccesses,overandoverandoveragain.

Sincerely,

StephenGuise

WantMore?

Formoreminihabitideas,visitminihabits.com.

For researched and entertaining information on mini habits, small steps,focusing, minimalism, and personal development, visit my main blog,deepexistence.com.

Also consider signing up for Deep Existence's Tuesday messages. These areemail-exclusivemessagesIsendouteveryTuesdaywithhelpful,life-improvinginformation.Andyes, Ido like to talkaboutminihabits a lot. Ifyousignup,you'llgetasetof40DeepExistenceexclusivefocus-themeddesktopwallpapers(created by me). In addition, you'll get my first book, Stress ManagementRedefined:8StepsToRemoveStressBefore ItKillsYou. It’s a short, very funread at 8,000words. Lastly, signing up gets you access tomy focus toolbox,whichhasthefinestresourcesaroundtohelpyoufocus.It’sallfree!

Finalnote:ifyoubelievethisbooksharesanimportantmessage,pleaseleaveareview on Amazon. Reviews (in quantity and in rating) are the main metricpeople use to judge a book's content. And if you have great results with thisstrategydowntheroad,pleasecomebackandtellotherreaders(andme)aboutyoursuccess!Everysingle reviewhasahuge impactonothers’willingness toreadabook,andifthischangesyourlife,youcanchangesomeoneelse'slifebyspreadingtheword.Theimpactoftheminihabitsideaisuptoyou.

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2UniversityofScranton,JournalofClinicalPsychology(2012).http://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/

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4Quinn,J.M.,A.T.Pascoe,W.Wood,&D.T.Neal.Can'tcontrolyourself?Monitorthosebadhabits.PersonalityandSocialPsychologyBulletin.(2010).v36,499-511.

5Szalavitz,M.StressCanBoostGoodHabitsToo.TimeMagazineOnline.(May27,2013).http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/27/stress-can-lead-to-good-habits-too/

6Lally,P.,C.H.M.vanJaarsveld,H.W.W.Potts,&J.Wardle.Howarehabitsformed:Modellinghabitformationintherealworld.Eur.J.Soc.Psychol.,(2010).v40,998–1009.doi:10.1002/ejsp.674

7LhermitteF.,B.Pillon,&M.Serdaru.Humanautonomyandthefrontallobes.PartI:Imitationandutilizationbehavior:aneuropsychologicalstudyof75patients.AnnNeurol(1986).v19,326-334.http://pacherie.free.fr/COURS/MSC/Lhermitte-AnNeuro-1986a.pdf

8(Ibid.,LhermitteF.,B.Pillon,&M.Serdaru.Humanautonomy,328)

9(Ibid.,LhermitteF.,B.Pillon,&M.Serdaru.Humanautonomy,328)

10(Ibid.,LhermitteF.,B.Pillon,&M.Serdaru.Humanautonomy,328)

11Seger,C.A.,B.J.Spiering.ACriticalReviewofHabitLearningandtheBasalGanglia.FrontiersinSystemsNeuroscience.(2011).v5,66.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3163829/#!po=15.2174

12Knowlton,BJ,J.AMangels,andL.R.Squire.ANeostriatalHabitLearningSysteminHumans.Science273,(1996).n5280,1399.

13Dean,J.MakingHabits,BreakingHabits:WhyWeDoThings,WhyWeDon't,andHowtoMakeAnyChangeStickDaCapoPress.KindleEdition.(2013-01-01).p9.

14Wood,W.,J.M.Quinn,&D.A.Kashy.Habitsineverydaylife:Thought,emotion,andaction.JournalofPersonalityandSocialPsychology.(Dec2002).v83(6),1281-1297.

15(Ibid.,Dean,J.MakingHabits,BreakingHabitsp.10)

16Muraven,M.&R.F.Baumeister.Self-RegulationandDepletionofLimitedResources:DoesSelf-ControlResembleaMuscle?PsychologicalBulletin.(2000).v126,No.2,247-259http://psyserv06.psy.sbg.ac.at:5916/fetch/PDF/10978569.pdf

17Oaten,M.&K.Cheng.Longitudinalgainsinself-regulationfromregularphysicalexercise.BrJHealthPsychol.(Nov2006).v11(Pt4),717-33.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17032494

18Baumeister,R.F.,E.Bratslavsky,M.Muraven,&D.M.Tice.EgoDepletion:IstheActiveSelfaLimitedResource?JournalofPersonalityandSocialPsychology.(1998).v74,No.5,1252-1265

19Vohs,K.D.,R.F.Baumeister,J.M.Twenge,B.J.Schmeichel,&D.M.Tice.DecisionFatigueExhaustsSelf-RegulatoryResources.

http://www.chicagobooth.edu/research/workshops/marketing/archive/WorkshopPapers/vohs.pdf

20Hagger,M.S.,C.Wood,C.Stiff,&N.L.Chatzisarantis.Egodepletionandthestrengthmodelofself-control:ameta-analysis.PsycholBull.(Jul2010).v136(4),495-525.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20565167

21Job,V.,C.S.Dweck,&G.M.Walton.Egodepletion--isitallinyourhead?implicittheoriesaboutwillpoweraffectself-regulation.PsycholSci.(Nov2010).v21(11),1686-93.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20876879

22Berger,C.C.&HEhrsson.Mentalimagerychangesmultisensoryperception.CurrentBiology.(June27,2013).v23(14),1367-1372.http://ki.se/ki/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=130&a=165632&l=en&newsdep=130

23Hagger,M.S.,C.Wood,C.Stiff,&N.L.Chatzisarantis.Egodepletionandthestrengthmodelofself-control:ameta-analysis.PsycholBull.(Jul2010).v136(4),p2.http://www.psychology.nottingham.ac.uk/staff/msh/pdfs/mshagger_ego_depletion.pdf

24Webb,T.L.&P.Sheeran.DoesChangingBehavioralIntentionsEngenderBehaviorChange?AMeta-analysisoftheExperimentalEvidence.PsychologicalBulletin.(2006).v132,no.2,249–268.

25Oman,R.F.&A.C.King.Predictingtheadoptionandmaintenanceofexerciseparticipationusingself-efficacyandpreviousexerciseparticipationrates.AmJHealthPromot.(Jan-Feb1998).v12(3),154-61.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10176088

26Fletcher,J.S.,J.L.Banasik.Exerciseself-efficacy.ClinExcellNursePract.(May2001).v5(3),134-43.(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11381353)

27Bandura,A.Self-efficacy:TowardaUnifyingTheoryofBehavioralChange.PsychologicalReview.(1977).v84,No.2,p.194

28MajorityofEmployeesDon’tFindJobSatisfying.RightManagement.(May17,2012).http://www.right.com/news-and-events/press-releases/2012-press-releases/item23352.aspx

29Cabrita,J.&H.Perista.Measuringjobsatisfactioninsurveys-Comparativeanalyticalreport.EuropeanWorkingConditionsObservatory.(2006).(http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/reports/TN0608TR01/TN0608TR01_8.htm

30Laran,J.&C.Janiszewski.WorkorFun?HowTaskConstrualandCompletionInfluenceRegulatoryBehavior.TheJournalofConsumerResearch.(April2011).v37,No.6,967-983

31(Ibid.,LaranandJaniszewski,WorkorFun?p.968)

32Labroo,A.A.&V.M.Patrick.WhyHappinessHelpsYouSeetheBigPicture.JournalofConsumerResearch.(2008).

33Fishbach,A.&R.Dhar.GoalsasExcusesorGuides:TheLiberatingEffectofPerceivedGoalProgressonChoice.JournalofConsumerResearch.(2005).v32,370-77.http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-science-willpower/201112/the-problem-progress-why-succeeding-your-goals-can-sabotage-your-w

34(5.Lallyetal.,HowAreHabitsFormed)

35(15.Vohsetal.,DecisionFatigue,p.7-8)

36Danziger,S.,J.Levav,&L.Avnaim-Pesso.Extraneousfactorsinjudicialdecisions.PNAS.(2011).v108,no.17,6889–6892http://www.pnas.org/content/108/17/6889.full.pdf

37Scheve,T.Istherealinkbetweenexerciseandhappiness?HowStuffWorks.

p3.http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/exercise-happiness2.htm

38Quoidbach,J.,E.V.Berry,M.Hansenne,&M.Mikolajczak.Positiveemotionregulationandwell-being:Comparingtheimpactofeightsavoringanddampeningstrategies.PersonalityandIndividualDifferences.(October2010).v49(5),368–373http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886910001820

39Markman,A.IsWillpowerEnergyOrMotivation?PsychologyToday.(2012).http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/201211/is-willpower-energy-or-motivation

40(23.Haggaretal.,EgoDepletion)

41(32.Ibid.,Labroo,A.A.&V.M.Patrick.WhyHappinessHelpsYouSeetheBigPicture.)

42(32.Ibid.,Labroo,A.A.&V.M.Patrick.WhyHappinessHelpsYouSeetheBigPicture.)

43Briñol,P.,M.Gascó,R.E.Petty,&J.Horcajo.TreatingThoughtsasMaterialObjectsCanIncreaseorDecreaseTheirImpactonEvaluation.PsychologicalScience.(January2013)v24,no.1,41-47http://pss.sagepub.com/content/24/1/41

44Isaac,B.JerrySeinfeld'sProductivitySecret.Lifehacker.(2007).http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret

45Sivers,D.Howtostartamovement.(video)TEDTalk.(2010).http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement.html

46Paulas,R.QuittingSmokingIsEasyWhenIt'sEasy.OutsideMagazine

Online.(2012).http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/wellness/Quitting-Smoking-Is-Easy-When-Its-Easy.html