The 10-Second Habit that Got Me in the Best Shape of My Life

One of the audiobooks that I completed last year (and mentioned in my 2018 Top 5 Best Books) was Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results by Stephen Guise. I have found the principles and practices suggested to be quite life changing!

Here are the ClifNotes–habits can be formed using will power or motivation.  Will power functions like a muscle in your brain.  It even requires glucose to function (a big reason why diets can be so hard…try going “low carb” or “keto” or whatever and completely depriving yourself of sugar while you form a new way of eating!).  Additionally, it is exhaustible.  You have more at the beginning of the day than you do in the evening (another reason why diets can be so hard–who has ever eaten great all day only to settle down with a giant bowl of ice cream at the end of the day?…not that I’m condoning diets, but you get the point).  Motivation is another way to affect change and form habits.  However, it is hard to pin down!  (If we continue with the diet example, maybe the new cookbook inspires you to cook real food at home, but maybe the delivery pizza just sounds so good when you’re super tired after work.  Maybe the photos of your favorite celebrity in her bikini taped to the fridge is inspiring to eat salad, but maybe sometimes you just don’t care or it feels totally unachievable.  Maybe the new gym clothes help you get to the gym a few times, but eventually they’re in the wash and you find yourself back on the couch.)  Motivation is tricky!

Since motivation is often quite elusive, Guise argues for habit formation strictly using will power to create a new habit.  However, since the new habit is extremely small, it uses such a small amount of will power that the habit can continue endlessly while feeling effortless.

Now, here’s the kicker.  Most people don’t want a mini habit.  They want a big, lightning bolt change.  (They are feeling motivated at the moment!)  A mini habit feels laughable, and, honestly, Guise would contend that the habit must feel laughable to be the right size habit.  But, the mini habit works because it is SO easy to do that you often end up building on the habit without even trying.

Here’s an example.

After Isla Jane was born, I wanted to get back to doing pull-ups.  I could do maybe four chin-ups or one pull-up before I got pregnant, and those declined into zero unassisted chin-ups by the time she was born.  (It’s just hard to have enough ab strength, not to mention the fact that I am 15-20 pounds heavier by the end of my pregnancy.)  So, I made a mini habit.  I would do one chin-up every day.  It took maybe 30 seconds to walk downstairs to the basement, jump up to the bar (I had to jump to get started because I couldn’t even do one anymore.), lower myself back down, and walk back upstairs.  And ya know what?  I didn’t miss.  It was such an easy thing to do everyday, that I just always did it.

And then the habit started to build on itself.  Without ever changing the goal of one chin-up every day, sometimes I’d try doing more.  Maybe I’d do a second one.  I mean, it only takes a few seconds.  Maybe I’d add some chin-up sets into a workout.

And the result?  By about three and a half months postpartum, I could do one, full unassisted pull-up!  (Pull-ups are more difficult than chin-ups, so I had progressed into them.)  I continued to work on my chin-ups and pull-ups throughout the rest of the year.  I’m up to eight unassisted chin-ups, and about three or four pull-ups–this is more than I’ve ever been able to do in my life all because of a ten-second habit!

So, naturally, when I heard about this Mini Habits book, my first response was, “I am already doing this!”  I wanted to learn more.  It made so.much.sense.

Initially, coming to grips with a mini habit is humbling, especially for those of us who struggle with perfectionism.  (“Really?  I only have enough will power to make the goal of one chin-up? But I should be doing 10 every day!”)  But once you start seeing it work, you get hooked!

Here’s another example…

After reading the book, I was inspired to think of other ways the Mini Habits system could work in my life.  I realized my fridge is often a disaster.  I let food sit in there way.too.long, and then there’s some fuzzy leftover from six weeks ago, and it is just nasty.  So, I started throwing out one thing in the fridge or pantry every day.  Again, it takes only a few seconds to complete this.  Occasionally, I feel some motivation from my mini habit and go ahead and throw out three or four things.  The result?  Our fridge stays significantly cleaner by and large.  Not perfectly by any means, but it is much better!

If you’re looking to affect change in your life, the mini habits system could be revolutionary!  Here are a few suggestions for mini habits.  Tweak them to fit your needs.

• Do one air squat, chin-up, or push-up.
• Drink three sips of water.
• Throw out one thing in the fridge.
• Put one article of clothing you no longer wear in a box to donate.
• Read one Bible verse.
• Pray a one-sentence prayer.
• Tidy the house for one minute.
• Eat one bite of vegetables.
• Read one page in a book.
• Make your child laugh or smile.
• Put your feet on the floor when your alarm goes off. (You don’t even have to actually get out of bed.  Just put your feet on the floor, and then you can put them right back in your bed.  I am totally serious.)
• Give your significant other a kiss (Seems silly, but sometimes we get busy, right?  We forget to take time for the people we love!)

Guise has a few directives for the Mini Habits System that should be noted:

1. Ideally, make one mini habit at a time.  Some people really get onto this idea and want to mini habit it up!  However, this can turn into too much total will power expenditure!  If you must make more than one mini habit, make sure that all of your habits combined take no more than ten minutes.
2. Do your mini habit daily.  Do not skip a day!  The mini habit should be so easy that this is no problem.  With the mini habits system, it is important to maintain a streak.  (I have decided that six days per week is fine for me, though.  I like to throw all my normal systems out the window on Sundays, but Guise would not advise this.)
3. If you’re having trouble completing your mini habit, make it smaller!  Break it down into smaller steps and just do the first, small step.  If your mini habit is to drive to the gym (not actually go to the gym, just drive there), and you’re not even doing that, make a mini habit to put on your gym clothes.  You’ll be surprised at the number of times you proceed to get in your car, drive to the gym, and actually work out!
4. Never increase the size of your mini habit.  Even if you can do 14 pull-ups after a few months, the mini habit remains.  You just need to do one.  Because there will come days, maybe even two weeks in a row of days, where you can only do one, and that is okay.  At the end of those two weeks, you’ll have completed 14 pull-ups you wouldn’t normally do and maintained a level of strength that will help you when you’ve got more time again.
5. This method works much better for adding things to your life rather than subtracting.  You don’t really make mini habits for not doing things.  However, you may find that, by strengthening your will power via mini habits, you have more will power reserves available for habits that involve restraint.  (“I feel so proud of myself for working out today.  I don’t even want to eat the cookie.”)
6. There is no magic length of time that it takes to build a habit.  Some people will tell you it takes 21 days to form a new habit.  There is no actual scientific backing for this.  It’s actually built on the 12-step program.  Some habits can be formed in a day.  Others may take three years to fully form.  Habit formation depends on so many factors!  Maintain your mini habit, and eventually you’ll have a real, full accomplishment without even noticing.

Do you have mini habits?  I love to know how other people are using this system.  Comment below!

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”  –Lao Tzu

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