Step by Step into Minis  –  See. Perceive. Act.

It’s time, former procrastinators.  Let’s each get into our own mini habit process.  Remember, a mini habit is a very small positive behavior that you force yourself to do every day.  In Mini Habits Stephen Guise recommends these steps for getting started:

1. Choose your mini habits and plan.  Write a list of full-size habits you’d like to have.  (Guise chose do 50 pushups and write 3000 words.)  Start with one or two habits, no more than four.
   
   “Minify” the goals so they are what Guise calls “stupid small.”  Be specific.  (One pushup/ 50 words).  Altogether, they should take less than 10 minutes to complete.  Meeting the small requirement makes you successful that day.  
   
   
2. Search for honest answers about why you want to develop each habit.  The best habit desires are based in your life values and priorities.
   
   
3. Determine your habit cues.  Time-based cues are by the clock.  Activity based cues tie in with another behavior.  (Ask get-to-know-you questions at the dinner table. / After morning jog, check email.)  General mini habits are done once per day.  The deadline is bedtime.  (Squeeze in one push up before lights out.)  Avoid skipping because that will start a negative habit.
   
   
4. Make a reward plan.  Rewards encourage repeat behavior.  You may need to give your brain a reward initially so it’s willing to repeat the behavior.  Soon, satisfaction in the job done is enough for your brain to keep going because it desires the habit.
   
   
5. Track your success.  Guise recommends a large calendar placed where you see it often.  I use my planner.  Cell phones have options, but remember hand written thoughts take more prominence in the brain than digital ones.  Keep the chain of success going.
   
   
6. See small steps as critical for success.  Your mini habits are too small to fail and too small to skip.
   
   
7. Maintain small goals.  As you succeed with a mini habit and do extra on it because you choose to, you’ll be tempted to set a bigger goal. Don’t do it.  Keep your requirement low.  Focus on consistency. (Doing ten pushups regularly but keeping the goal at one.)
   
   
8. Notice signs of forming a habit, but stay steady on.  Some indications a habit is forming include:  no resistance, identifying with the behavior (I’m a fit person. / I’m a writer.), no worrying about it, it’s non-emotional, not exciting.  (But life is better!)
   

Say I’d like to do a thirty minute stretch program but I minify to six minutes while the coffee brews.  I want to because it wakes my mind and body, prepares me for more movement, helps keep me limber. I’m happy to strike off “stretch” on my planner. Now my body “expects” to stretch and values the minutes.

Say I want to memorize large portions of scripture because I want to be transformed, I may not have a Bible, I find comfort, encouragement, guidance in God’s Word, it helps me share with others, it helps make connections with other scripture.  I minify to two minutes of memorizing when I start quiet time.  I’m happy to mark off “SM” in my planner. I keep a bookmark where I’m memorizing and now I automatically go there first.  During the day, the scripture comes to mind prompted by events.

My minis were two minutes of scripture memory when I start quiet time and read two pages in a scripture-based book.  I can do more some days, but success is two minutes and two pages.  This works!

How will you “minify” your habit goals?