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Hey đź‘‹, hoping that you all are doing great.
With everything going on, and due to the abrupt discontinuation of my classes with respect to the social distancing policies, I have found myself slipping rather into these old habits, unproductive habits, which in the end only leave me feeling frustrated with my lack of taking action when I know I should have.
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The goal of me getting back to a productive state, recultivating better habits is what led me to start reading Stephen Guise's rather a short book titled: Mini Habits: in the search for insights on how to go about achieving my goal.
Anyone will agree that good habits lead to an overall better character which in turn affects the quality of life one leads. Even the ancient Greeks realized the importance of cultivating good habits, quoting the philosopher Aristotle:
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle
The Greeks had an understanding that our habits be they good or bad, play a large role in determining our character and thus the quality of our life.
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I think it is worth noting that one's habits extend their influence to all areas of one's life due to their impact on one's mental and physical well being. This leads to the obvious conclusion that getting rid of bad habits and cultivating better ones is a key to self-improvement.
And fortunately according to Richard O'Connor in his book, Rewire, anyone, at any age, can choose to change their habitual behaviors and be successful at it, a result of the plasticity state of our brains. As he writes:
there is . . . the big news in science that is cause for optimism: the idea of the plastic (changeable) brain, the recognition that our brains change, and grow physically in response to life experience. New brain cells are constantly being formed; new networks between cells keep growing as we learn new things. Neuroscientists now know that bad habits have a physical existence in the structure of the brain; they become the default circuits when we are faced with temptation... But now we also know that we can rewire the brain to develop healthier circuitry.
Richard O'Connor
The strategy offered in the book by Stephen Guise is quite novel, it is based on the premise that the biggest hurdles to habit formation stem from the unreliability of motivation and the limited nature of willpower.
The strategy espoused by Stephen Guise being:
The Mini Habits strategy is forcing yourself to take . . . “stupid small” strategic actions every day. These actions are too small to fail and too small to skip for special occasions. They serve dual purposes—to spark you to do more, and to become (mini) habits.
Stephen Guise
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Giving an example; say one wants to cultivate a writing habit, one could choose a mini habit of committing to writing at the least 50 words each day.
The mini habit strategy is rather clever compared to other strategies in that it addresses two of the most significant problems related to developing good habits, namely the unreliability of motivation and the limited supply of willpower.
According to Guise:
The benefit from following the Mini Habits system is surprisingly big results. First, there’s a great chance that you’ll do “bonus reps” after you meet your small requirement. This is because we already desire these positive behaviors, and starting them reduces internal resistance. The second benefit is the routine. Even if you don’t exceed your small requirement, the behavior will begin to become a (mini) habit. From there, do bonus reps or scale the habit up. Another benefit is constant success. A bank may be too big to fail, but mini habits are too small to fail, and so they lack the common destructive feelings of guilt and inadequacy that come with goal failure. This is one of the very few systems that practically guarantees success every day thanks to a potent encouragement spiral and always-attainable targets.
Stephen Guise
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For those struggling with just getting started, the strategy is able to address the impediment in rather an easy way compared to other strategies other there. Not saying that others don't work, just that this strategy is rather easier to apply, the effort required is close to none.
As I have come to realize, once one begins their mini habit, it is very likely that one will not stop at say the 50 words of writing, thus leading one to cultivate the full habits one desires.
For anyone who has struggled with other methods of habit formation, I think Stephen Guise's short book, is thus worth the read.
See y'all in my next one!
Cheers!