Gayle HCreate the life of your dreams! You can do it! You just have to do the following 200 items every day for the next 5 years!
Yeah. No.
I don’t doubt for a minute that if you are reading this post, you have something about your life that you’d like to change/develop/start doing/stop doing or otherwise make a different choice and follow that path. Good for you. Because creating something different in your life is a lofty goal.
But if you are anything like me, sometimes I have such an urge to get to that new goal that I bite off WAY more than I can chew.
Lose weight? I’ll try that new diet and quit drinking wine for 30 days!
Get more physically fit? I’ll go to the gym 5 days a week!
Start a blog? I’ll write every single day!
Get a new job? I’ll send my resume out to everyone I can think of!
My list can go on and on, and I’m sure you can add a few of your own big goals/big action plan examples.
Unfortunately, the human brain can’t switch habits on a dime. And, even more sobering, if our big action plan isn’t something that we believe we can/want to do, then our brain will simply say, “Nope. Not happening – cause deep down inside, I know you don’t want to do this.”
Oh yeah, we’ve all been able to keep some crazy big action plan pace up for a while. In fact, I made it to day 21 of a Whole30 a few years ago! And, there was that time where I actually got my butt to the gym 5 days in a row. And when I first started my blog on The Healthy Leader, I was pretty good about writing almost every day.
So I’m sure you have your own success stories. And good on all of us for those moments in time where we rise to our crazy challenges and nail them (or at least get 7 days close to them).
But for long-term habit change, for big goal achievement, and for life changing actions, our best course of action is actually to take small nibbles instead of big bites.
Because small steps done consistently are the key to ultimate habit forming success.
Phew! Right?! I can do small steps. You can do small steps. We can all do small steps. All of a sudden, that dream feels like it could be doable. Oh yeah. Yup. Tell me more Gayle.
OK! I will!
Our brains hold the key to our habits. And our brains have had MANY years to formulate what she/he believes to be our good or bad habits.
So changing a ‘bad habit’ means potentially unwinding years and years of thinking and doing something that you may have become very comfortable thinking or doing.
Comfortable has become our day to day life modus operandi (MO).
Changing comfortable is uncomfortable for us.
And uncomfortable is just….well….uncomfortable! Not gonna lie – uncomfortable is not a place we like to hang out for long.
And there’s the rub. We bite off an enormous piece of uncomfortable and it doesn’t take long before we stop chewing and spit that uncomfortable feeling out.
Hello day 22 of my Whole30.
I do facilitation and coaching work for Thrive Global. In our sessions, we talk a lot about Microsteps. In essence, a step so small in the direction of your goal/habit that you just can’t fail.
Examples of Microsteps:
- You don’t exercise now? MS: Do 1 push-up every day.
- You want to lose 10 pounds? MS: Drink a glass of water every morning when you first wake up.
- You want to get more sleep? MS: go to bed 5 minutes earlier.
- You want to quit your job? MS: For 5 minutes everyday, link in with people who work at companies you’d like to work for.
We at Thrive Global suggest doing these Microsteps for 32 days in a row. To create habit. To train your brain. To start to develop an energy and excitement for creating something good and new in your life.
Over time this new way of thinking will feel really great with your brain. You will train your brain to do these great things for yourself. Your brain will say, “Hey! I’m loving this! Let’s do more!”
Mr. Bad Habit will have less and less room to live in your head because Mrs. Good Habit will grow and take over Mr. Bad Habit’s space.
I always tell my clients when they feel bad about not having done as much as they hoped to do – any step forward is a good thing, even if that step was just an itty bitty baby step.
And for the longest time, I thought I was just motivational and brilliant telling them that itty bitty baby steps are awesome – who knew that the concept was also backed by science. Yes, I was ahead of my time.
Anyway, back to Microsteps.
Take a minute and think of something that you want to do to move yourself closer to your idea of a ‘perfect life’. Doesn’t matter at all what that is – physical/mental/job oriented/hobby/vacation – this is your life. Your thing.
Now think of one small, tiny, itty bitty, crazy little step that is so small, there is no way you can not do that little thing every day. This step should move you forward on your journey to perfect life.
Small. Little. Bite.
We are not trying to impress anyone right now. We are just taking one small step. So make sure that is what you have identified.
Seriously. No extra credit. No bonus points. Make it small!!!
Now take this step every day for the next 32 days.
And after 32 days, take stock of where you are. Doing great? Good! Add another.
And so on. And so on. Until one day BAM! There you are! Good habits! Goal reached! Celebration started!
I’d love to hear what your Microstep is – as would others who read this. Because support comes in community. So, share your step in the comments please! Share your experiences. Share your concerns. Just share – for your growth and the growth of others.
Gayle H
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