Tiny Habits

There are times (many times actually) where I find articles or posts online that just grab me.

They take me in by their photo, intrigue me with their headline, plonk me on my butt by their opening sentence… and leave me spluttering in awe by their concluding paragraph.

James Clear is one of those people. (Except his posts don’t have pictures, so it’s usually the fact that he only produces gold that draws me in). Anyway, we’ll come back to James in a bit.

I’m left wondering where such insight comes from?

I ponder how on earth I’m going to remember these gems and more importantly, how am I going to incorporate what I’ve learnt into my life, so that I can be better?

And then the self-doubt strikes. Why, oh why, do I have a blog called This Blogging Business when there is already so many great resources out there? So many people have nailed the habits thing; and written so eloquently, and succinctly, on the topic. There are those who’ve mastered a meditation practice; and seem to float on glorious clouds of enlightenment that they earnestly, yet humbly, encourage you to join them on.

But rather than get all gloomy about it; I figured, why not share it with you? This way, you can get in on the goodness too. 🙂

Tiny habits are something that I’ve been really enthusiastic about because I believe they are the key to making lasting behavioural change. And what makes them key, is that they are so small, it doesn’t fire up any resistance in ourselves.

James Clear talks about resistance in his article The Paradox of Behaviour Change where he talks about the best way to makes change is to do it in such a way as to not create resistance in ourselves.

The forces in our lives that have established our current equilibrium will work to pull us back whether we are trying to change for better or worse. In the words of George Leonard, “Resistance is proportionate to the size and speed of the change, not to whether the change is a favorable or unfavorable one.”

In other words, the faster you try to change, the more likely you are to backslide. The very pursuit of rapid change dials up a wide range of counteracting forces which are fighting to pull you back into your previous lifestyle. You might be able to beat equilibrium for a little while, but pretty soon your energy fades and the backsliding begins.

This is why tiny habits are so effective. They tie in beautiful with this understanding that the most effective change happens when it’s small, incremental and regular.

Have you tried implementing tiny habits into your own life? Have you found that you are able to implement behavioural change because of your lack of resistance to that change? I’d love to hear your story.