How Mini Habits Can Change Your Life
Mini habits are habits that are so easy; You can't NOT do them.
They are almost silly.
Passive Bad habits
Many of us have these bad habits, And it can be hard to move past them at times.
Such as
- Laziness
- Fear
- Wasting time.
Sometimes we don't even realize we are doing these things, It just happens.
When you add good habits to your life, it Illuminates another possible path. Restores your confidence, And makes it easy for you to be successful without trying as hard. If you read my last post about self-control, This is related. You have a limited amount of self-control in a day, But when you incorporate good habits into your daily routine, you can do "extra" good stuff. Without burning through your self-control as fast, Because you don't have to subconsciously think about what your about to do, You just do it.
This is how I am with running; I run everyday. It requires no self-control Because it's such a strong habit. I don't' even think about it. I just put on my jogging shoes and go for it!
Why Mini Habits
Mini habits are a trick to building bigger, More long term positive habits.
If I would have woken up one day and said: "I'm going to start running 2 miles a day". This would make it hard to be successful. 2 miles sounds long and daunting. But if I said, Starting today, I'm going to walk past my neighbor's house, Turn around and come back.
Doesn't that sound stupid easy?
As much as you'd like to think that your day is different everyday...
45% of the things we do every day are a result of habits.
So if you have a bunch of good habits, you'll be at a huge advantage in life. Where as people with bad habits are in a bad position in life.
What is a habit?
When you have a habit. It's assigned a neural pathway in your brain, Which can easily be triggered by a thought.
You may look at the clock and see it's 8:00 p.m. And think "it's time for dinner." You get up from your chair and start cooking.
When you keep to this habit for long periods of time, This pathway becomes thicker and stronger, And harder to break.
- Stress increases pattern behavior.
- The average time for a behavior to become habit was 66 days.
- The more challenging the habit, the longer it will take to form the habit.
- Missing a day, Doesn't completely derail a habit.
What goes on in your brain when you form habits
You have a subconscious brain a conscious brain.
Repetition is engrained in the subconscious brain.
Your brain associates repetition with reward.
- Your Basil Ganglia will repeat the same behaviors until it's told to stop.
Your Prefrontal Cortex
Is based on decision making.
It can override the basil ganglia.
This part of the brain tires easily. Eventually, the repetitious part takes over. Which is the Basil Ganglia? Which is a pattern repeater?
This is why in my last post I explained how self-control is a limit resource Because your prefrontal cortex gets tired.
This is why Mini habits will simplify your life,
Want to start drinking more water everyday? Start with one cup, and move up.
Want to do push ups each day? Start with just one push up each day.
Make it so easy that you can't fail it. Each time you do it, you are more likely to do more than expected. As a result, it will become easier and easier for you, And you can gradually ease into more realistic goals.
Your life will never change if you only rely on your Basil Ganglia. You'll just do the same thing each day in an endless cycle. But you can take control of that part of your brain. So you can get exactly what you want out of your life. Building good habits will put you at a big advantage Because habit is 45% of your day.
Thank you @elyaque for the awesome Badges!
It is very important to be aware of the conscious and subconscious changes we are making in our lives. Great advice @kaylinart!
Here's my mini habit. Seems to impact my life...
Why cry? ENJOY the habit no?
Hahah yes!!
Hahahahaha, best comment ever! xDDD
Oh my gosh XDD
$0.35!!!! Unbelievable power! I feel so minnow.
OMG!!! XD Hahaha Thats totally me alright XD!
You won't be a minnow forever ! Just keep posting hehee.
Enjoyed it! You make some points. I'm terrible about getting into bad habits.
Thank you! I'm the same way at times! I think I'm prone to addiction!
What you have described is what many scientists and researchers have proved through experiments. It is the fact that anyone can change by taking one step at a time.
In fact, there's also a website related to it: http://tinyhabits.com/
We change our behaviors by doing something so small that it is no longer considered difficult. Then, eventually, our brain will do the rest of the things with time.
Yes!!! Thank you for sharing the awesome website :) Hopefully people can use it to change their habits!
You mean change their lives, right? :)
Personally used mini-habit ideas to make changes to my own live. Boy, what a ride! And the funny thing is, I feel like I am growing every day as I keep doing things.
Truly, as my friend says, "moving through crap leads to wonder."
What a strange quote hahah!! Yes!! Mini habits make a big difference haha!
Mini habit...... click upvoted many times on steemit and then that habits change my steem power.... ha...ha... ! :)
Thats a way to do it XD
Timely writing. Going to start my mini habits step by step.
Good Heheh :) Good luck!
WOW I love the article... It is similar to my philosophy on goals one should break them in to small steps and focus on consistently achieving the next step after a while the big goal will just fall in place of the next step.
Thank you!! Heheh
My mom says I'm lazy.. And the small step I've initiated:
• Play loud music and remember durations of 2 or 3 consecutive songs..
That prevents me from the shock later wondering for how long i was in the bathroom.. And belive me i know the durations of 60% songs in my playlist.. ☺
OMG LOL
Believe it or not but I am speaking from personal experience, mini-habits have enabled me to quit smoking cigarettes (after 13 years) and lose 34 lbs over the span of four months. "Tiny tweaks ( MINI HABITS) can equal big changes" May not be easy at first because nothing that truly benefits you is but the more you do the small tweaks the easier the big changes are easier to be realized.
Really a good physcolog
Thanks
Welcome @kalynart
:)