The Bare Minimum
Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 4:07 pm
I've had considerable success recently doing the bare minimum of habits.
Basically, the idea is to find the smallest possible habit related to what you want to accomplish. I recently started a new job and my previously ingrained habit of exercising went out of the window. I would love to be swimming a few times a week, but that is ambitious (involves advance preparation, getting up on time, and a large time commitment). So I decided to start very small - doing anything at all before I got in the shower in the morning. Some days I nearly forgot, or was running late, and did literally one minute of stretching. Most days I do 10-30 minutes.
Something about knowing I can easily have 100% compliance makes this very motivating. And while I had read about this theory several times from several sources (e.g. just put on your exercise shoes/clothes, or just floss one tooth), I hadn't realized how motivating it was until I actually tried it. I think part of it is I thought of it as a way of working up to really exercising, or flossing all your teeth or whatever. But I reserve the right to do the bare minimum at any time, and that is what helps me keep the habit.
Basically, the idea is to find the smallest possible habit related to what you want to accomplish. I recently started a new job and my previously ingrained habit of exercising went out of the window. I would love to be swimming a few times a week, but that is ambitious (involves advance preparation, getting up on time, and a large time commitment). So I decided to start very small - doing anything at all before I got in the shower in the morning. Some days I nearly forgot, or was running late, and did literally one minute of stretching. Most days I do 10-30 minutes.
Something about knowing I can easily have 100% compliance makes this very motivating. And while I had read about this theory several times from several sources (e.g. just put on your exercise shoes/clothes, or just floss one tooth), I hadn't realized how motivating it was until I actually tried it. I think part of it is I thought of it as a way of working up to really exercising, or flossing all your teeth or whatever. But I reserve the right to do the bare minimum at any time, and that is what helps me keep the habit.