Make your habits tiny to make them automatic

How often have you started a new habit such as meditating, journalling, drinking more water,
that you plan to do daily, and you keep it up for a few days, or even a few weeks,
but then life gets in the way and eventually it falls by the wayside?

Have you ever analysed why that happens?
you wanted to do it
and you knew it would be good for you in someway
but why did that habit not become automated in your life?

If in your mind you were thinking, I “should” meditate, or I should drink more water, that’s a red flag,
it shows low motivation
when it comes to making a habit automated, that you do daily without thinking, you don’t want to rely on motivation

The best way of creating a new habit that you can sustain is to make it as tiny as possible
You want to meditate?
instead of ambitiously aiming for 30 minutes of meditation a day,
aim for 30 seconds a day

You want to keep a journal?
instead of aiming to write a full page daily,
aim to write just a minimum of 10 words after you brush your teeth

You want to drink more water?
instead of aiming for 2 litres a day,
aim to drink a glass of water after every meal

If you make your habits really small,
you have far more chance of succeeding.
When you fail to do a habit it is really demoralising,
and each time you feel you’ve failed yourself, there is less chance of that habit becoming automated.

Make the habit so small that you can’t fail.

Then aim to do that habit after something you always do on a daily basis without thinking.

For example, do you brush your teeth twice a day?
then you could aim to meditate after you brush your teeth for just 30 seconds

Do you make yourself a cup of tea or coffee every day?
maybe you could write 10 words in your diary as the kettle is boiling

I’m guessing you eat every day?
so adding a habit of drinking some water after you finish one or two of your meals a day might be easy for you?

The easier it is to do the more likely you are to do it,
and if you set yourself the target of doing it after something that you always do every day,
it is more likely you’ll remember to do it every day