Most people think a dramatic change is required but the power of micro habits can be life changing. The idea of micro habits is that over the course of several months or years, micro habits will have changed your behaviour. Without installing micro habits into your day, you’ll naturally gravitate towards your default settings.
Your default settings are ultimately habits, whether you’re conscious of them or not! They are mini habits which have grown over time. Hence the importance of setting micro habits which are aligned with positive change!
In his book Mini Habits, Stephen Guise uses the example of a single daily push up. By itself a single push up won’t win you any medals, of course. It won’t get you on the cover of GQ magazine either, or make you incredibly fit! But by choosing a mini, or “micro” habit to build your intention with, you circumvent the most difficult obstacle you have; momentum.
Apathy, indifference and depression even all have their say in your daily routine. If you’ve been depressed, it’s very much more difficult to change the direction of your energetic momentum. But with a mini habit you can side step the power of your existing routine by giving yourself a ridiculously easy task to complete.
The Power Of Micro Habits: Momentum
If, on the other hand you decide it’s time to dramatically change your habits what happens? You join a gym, you go a few times a week until you burn out. Months later you find yourself still paying your membership but never turning up! Why is this? It’s because you tried to do too much at first and you couldn’t sustain the pressure you placed on your change of direction. Before long, older better established habits and unconscious behaviours took priority. You find yourself back where you were, disappointed that you gave up!
A mini habit is different because you start with something you must do every day, however you are feeling. Even in the depths of depression, with a terrible hangover, your mini habit should be reflective of this state of being. So if you can do a single press up in this state, you will maintain this as a mini habit for months, preferably years.
What’s the point in a single press up you might ask? Well the idea is to install the behaviour. The press up is only used to establish the habit in the right direction. On a good day, once you’re down there on the floor, you’ll more than likely do a couple, or even more. Once you establish the position of a press up on the floor, you have begun to create momentum in the right direction. Once you’ve done one, you can let yourself off the hook for the day. You’ve done what you set out to do.
The Power Of Micro Habits: Any Topic
You can apply the power of micro habits to any area of your life, be it online business, fitness, learning a new skill, playing an instrument and so on. I’ve used the power of micro habits to install the habit of writing a daily blog post. Over time this generates momentum. Some days, it just feels wrong not to write a blog post, because I’ve been doing it for so long now!
You can use the power of micro habits in any topic you choose.
In James Clear’s book Atomic Habits he points out what he terms the “valley of disappointment” where results don’t meet expectations. This might explain why so many people quit the gym just shortly after joining.
Initially there’s a lot of enthusiasm for getting fit and joining the gym. This often happens after a period of gaining weight and perhaps even getting a little slothful or lethargic! This motivates you to join a gym with the intention of getting back in shape and gaining more energy. After a month of training, you look in the mirror, perhaps expecting some amazing gym body! You’re disappointed because after all you still think of yourself in perhaps the same way. So you lose momentum and quit trying!
With a mini habit, there is less expectation because, after all, you’re only installing a new habit, rather than trying for any particular goal or desired weight, for example.
The Self Image
The self image is a major motivator (or distractor) from applying yourself to a new venture. Unless you change your self image as you go, you’ll pull yourself back to the “old” version of yourself who you think you are. This is a very strong pull and you have already invested years into being “who” you think you are. It’s more difficult to alter things on the “outside” because you always remind yourself “who” you are on the inside!
Again, mini habits can help here because you can circumvent your magnetic “self image” by installing new habits over time. Once you commit to a basic “mini habit”, you create momentum for change. It may not be dramatic, but over months and years if you maintain and grow your mini habits they will replace existing habits and help you change the way you see yourself (the self image).
Maxwell Maltz was a plastic surgeon who discovered that if he were to change the self image of his patients, they no longer desired a physical transformation with surgery. In his book Psycho-Cybernetics he explains the phenomenon of self image in detail.
Summary
The power of micro habits can be used for anything you would like to change in your life. However, doing one pushup daily is only the momentum building part of the idea. Over time, and with persistence, you can then add to your daily routine and grow it into a stronger and better habit as you gain momentum and strength.
When I started blogging, I was struggling for ideas and writing maybe only once a week. But over time as this habit became a regular practice, I got better at finding ideas for my blog posts and faster at writing.
With an online business model, a regular habit of building content can ultimately give you a passive income. If you’re interested in learning more about building an online business from scratch, checkout this free video series.