You already know that habits have the power to transform your life.
The other day I was listening to a podcast with a man who says he does 2 push-ups every time he visits the bathroom.
Now, even though this sounds a little weird, because I wouldn’t recommend doing push-ups in the bathroom (maybe right outside the bathroom?!) … the basic info was solid.
It was all about making realistic changes in your lifestyle to support your goals.
The man – BJ Fogg – is actually a Stanford behavioral scientist who studies how people create routines and change habits.
He used his 2 push-up habit to kick start another “tiny” but healthy change in his life.
And do you know what happened?!
They all added up to a 20+ pound weight loss in just a few months.
He wrote a book about it called Tiny Habits. He also came up with a formula that outlines how to make these changes so they become automatic, so you don’t even have to really think about them:
“Behavior (B) happens when Motivation (M), Ability (A), and a Prompt (P) come together at the same time.”
This basically means that to make a lasting behavior change (habit), you need to piece 3 things:
Motivation
– You have to WANT to make a change. If you think you SHOULD make a change but you aren’t really into it, it won’t stick.
(REALITY CHECK: sometimes you have to give a new habit a try before you decide whether it’s for you or not. Once you start feeling the results, you’ll start to want to make the change.)
Prompt
– This is a reminder to do the behavior. It could be something like going to the bathroom or opening the refrigerator door, or setting a timer or alarm on your phone. Or, your reminder could be a reward … if you want to check your phone, you need to do 5 squats first.
Ability
– Not only should you be physically able to do the behavior, but also have the time and space to do it. Doing those 5 squats takes a lot less time and is much easier than running 1 mile! Over time, this formula adds up to habits (and results) that can stick for a lifetime. One of the things I really like about this approach is that it is super achievable.
He set the bar low – rather than making himself do 10 push-ups, he just did 2. That gets rid of the dread factor!
Then he built it up from there, adding or changing a few behaviors as they occurred to him, eventually creating dozens of reflexive changes in his daily life! Pretty awesome, right?
As I mentioned earlier, I know a lot of us are working to get back into our healthy habits after the wild ride 2020 has given us so far – what is 1 behavior you can add starting today?
I’m personally going to recommit to reading for 10 minutes before bed each weeknight
Will you be joining me?
