If you’re looking for micro habits examples, you’ve probably got a few already of your own. How about brushing your teeth before going to bed, or drinking a cup of tea in the morning? Often micro habits are attached to other behaviours which when made conscious can have a dramatic effect on your life over many years.
Blogging is one of my micro habits which over several years has allowed me to earn an income from the internet. Anyone can set up a micro or mini habit which compounds over time. Here’s some more micro habits examples:
- One push up a day
- Drinking a glass of water after waking up in the morning
- Reading a single page of a self help book a day
- Listening to an audiobook for 5 minutes a day
- Writing one blog post a day
On their own, micro habits don’t look like much. But by maintaining a micro habit over the longer term, larger goals and achievements can be made. The point of building a micro habit is to generate momentum for an otherwise difficult accomplishment.
Micro Habit Examples
Micro habits are the tiniest of accomplishments in the direction of your goals. To set a micro habit, decide on your longer term accomplishment and break it down into tiny steps which you can do right away. So for example if you wanted to lose weight, you could choose a micro habit which relates to diet or exercise. A single push up a day is an example of an exercise habit.
While a single push up won’t have massive implications for an exercise program by itself, it sets into motion a momentum which otherwise you wouldn’t have started. Once in the press up position, you’re all the more likely to do two, three or five pushups.
Choose a daily habit which you can do whatever mood or state you are in. A mini habit, or micro habit should be something you can sustain, even on your worst days. After all, it’s only one push up, so even if you’re completely depressed, you can easily manage it! It should be ridiculously easy and simple to do. Over time, your habit of doing something simple will grow, and you can build more activities on top if you’re having a good day!
Habit Stacking & Environment Cues
Habit stacking is adding new habits on to existing habits which are linked somehow. For example, after you have brushed your teeth at night, you might get into your bed clothes/pyjamas, or the other way around. You might have done this for years already without being very conscious of it.
With a push up, once you have developed a habit of doing your single push up a day, and this is well established, you can add something similar to it. So for example, you might add a sit up to your daily push up regime. Once you’ve completed your push up, just do a sit up. Again, start with an easy task and don’t give yourself too much to do initially. Once habits are well established and growing naturally, add something on to them.
Often well established habits which we already have are inspired by our environment. So in the office, you might naturally have the habit of checking your emails. A book by the bed will remind you to read before going to sleep. Once you’re in the car, you are reminded to turn on the radio, or play some music.
You can use these environmental cues to your advantage. So in the car you might start a new habit of listening to an audiobook, or self help book instead of the radio. Or you could learn a new language just by switching your old driving habits to some new ones and listening to foreign language lessons.
Micro Habits To Change Your Life
Micro habits can change your life if you have a long term goal you want some help with. Learning an instrument, speaking another language, getting in shape or building an online business can all be helped with micro habits. Often a long term goal of learning a new skill or escaping your job with an online business can feel like an enormous task. But with mini habits you only need to focus on creating the habit, which is much intimidating.
Once you have established your habit, the habit does the heavy lifting. Learning a musical instrument is only a matter of practicing a little each day. Mountains are climbed a step at a time and even a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Mini or micro habits are those steps. If you focus on the step, the habits will take care of the long term goals.
Micro habits are therefore great for overcoming procrastination. As an affiliate marketer with an online business, having a large goal without a clear path to accomplish it can lead to procrastination. But with a micro habit, you only need to focus on the small, daily action you can accomplish each and every day. Don’t look at the whole mountain every day because it will put you off. Instead, focus on what little you can do which will get you further towards your goal.
By focusing on the tiny steps in front of you today, you avoid being off-put by the large mountain ahead. Celebrate small wins rather than looking at what you haven’t achieved. Focus on activity and not results and build tiny habits which lead to the result you want.
