Mini Habits

It takes time to change our habits, and we usually have to go through a long process of trial and error in an attempt to find the best method for us. Even so, this is often still not enough, because we are faced with so much resistance that we are unable to change our behaviour. This is exactly what happened to Stephen Guise when he decided to turn his life around and get fit. Despite setting himself a very precise objective, he was sometimes unable to summon up the motivation, and was too easily discouraged. As he gradually became more and more frustrated with the situation, he eventually found the drive to initiate change: one step at a time, he moved closer to his goal and completely transformed not only his daily routine, but his entire way of thinking and behaving. All this was possible thanks to just one simple decision: instead of doing twenty or thirty push-ups, he just did one, but this single push-up completely revolutionised his life.

Guise’s method is based on what he calls 'mini habits', which are small actions that do not require much willpower, and that make us feel good straight away. He maintains that they enable us to transform our daily life and implement changes that for a long time had seemed impossible, such as working out in the gym or going for a run, eating a healthy diet, reading more, and so on.