Did you know that it is possible to reach your goals with very little conscious effort on your part? Actually, most habit experts will tell you that little efforts yield huge rewards. There are many reasons why:
Manageability: Small changes are easier to incorporate into daily routines without causing a significant disruption. This makes it less daunting to start a new habit.
Sustainability: Smaller changes are more sustainable because they require less effort to incorporate into your life.
Success and Motivation: Small changes can lead to small wins, which can boost self-esteem and motivation. This sense of accomplishment can help you sustain your small changes and step up to larger ones.
Neural Adjustment: When changes are small, it’s easier for our brains to adjust and accept the new habit as part of our daily routine.
Less Resistance: There’s typically less internal and external resistance to small changes. When changes are small and gradual, we are less likely to feel overwhelmed and those around us are less likely to feel uncomfortable or threatened.
Building Momentum: As small changes become habits, they can set the stage for more changes. New changes can be “stacked” onto the original changes creating big results.
B.J. Fogg, author of Tiny Habits asserts that when we depend on motivation and self-discipline to create real change, we are more likely to fail. This is not because we are weak-willed, we are simply humans whose resolve ebbs and flows throughout days, weeks and months.
James Clear, author of Atomic Habits (yes there is a “Tiny Habits” book and an “Atomic Habits” book, which only underscores that this is a very popular approach), recommends following the “two-minute rule,” which is based on the simple premise that “when you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.”
It is possible to break down any task to the two-minute version.
To find the two-minute version of any goal, break it down into tasks that range from “very hard” to “very easy”. For example, if your goal is to read 20 books a year, here is a breakdown:
A page a day may seem pretty meaningless, but the point is to feel how rewarding it is to try, and succeed, at something new, without the fear of failure that often accompanies such effort. Instead of trying to master a perfect habit from the start, doing the easy thing on a consistent basis will give you the confidence to take a bigger step when the time is right.
The idea is that once you prove to yourself that you are someone that shows up, tries and succeeds, you can increase the difficulty of the task.
Taking small steps toward a goal is like walking on a path that winds so gently up the hill you hardly notice the climb. When the only requirement is to place one foot in front of the other, you’ll experience a constant feeling of success
At Amaze we want to help you get healthy and stay healthy. And of course, we’re always here to help.