Last week, we learned about the keys to consistency, including starting small. 

Starting small is a powerful part of our approach here at focused space — so this week we wanted to dive in deeper. 

We’ll be drawing from a couple of books this week: “Tiny Habits” by B.J. Fogg, which inspired the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. Both books contain many tools and techniques for improving our lives through small practices. 

"Tiny habits compound" goes the saying, and they're easy to get going since they’re, well, tiny. 

Let's say your goal is to build a meditation practice. If so, you can think of taking one deep breath as a tiny habit that can build towards that goal. Or maybe your goal is to start running. In that case, try asking yourself to take just one or two laps around the block to get started.

Easy wins amplify the habit. And tiny habits are also low-stress. What’s not to love? 😊

Benefits of Tiny Habits:

💰 Incremental progress → transformative results (think compounding interest!)

💪🏽 Reduced stress and fear of failure through positive feedback loops (and easy wins!)

🌤🌈 Flexibility, adaptability, and resilience (it’s easy to try again/start smaller)

The Powerful "Tiny Habits Recipe" Method

The Tiny Habit Recipe method includes an Anchor + a Tiny Habit + a Celebration.

Let’s say your goal is to exercise, to feel better and stronger.

The first step is to find a tiny habit that helps us get started — at a time, location, and frequency that feels easily doable. To make it more doable, we want to attach it to an “anchor” that is already easy to do habitually. 

In this example, the anchor could be brushing our teeth — something we probably do every morning.

The Tiny Habit could be two countertop push-ups.

The final part of the recipe is really important — and that’s celebrating.

It may seem silly to celebrate such a small-seeming thing, but celebration is what solidifies the habit and helps it grow. 

One of our partner coaches, Glen Lubbert, uses this formula as part of getting better sleep. 

Upon waking (the anchor), he gets out of bed right away — the tiny, (or not-so-tiny) habit. He adds energy to this pairing by saying aloud in celebration: “I’m going to make today a great day!” (with an above-head fist pump or two!) 

Embodying the celebration and making it fun is the name of this game. This model also suggests repeating your celebration 5 times for greater habit-sticking power.

Our "Tiny Habits Challenge"

We just learned about the Tiny Habits Recipe — find an anchor that you already do habitually, such as brushing your teeth; add an easy, small habit that aligns with a bigger goal, such as counter pushups to get fit; and then celebrate!

Today, we challenge you to a… Tiny Habit Challenge!

What’s a tiny step you can make towards one of your bigger goals? Where can you anchor it in your day? And most importantly… How can you celebrate it?

As B.J. Fogg, PhD, behavioral scientist at Stanford and author of “Tiny Habits” says: “Celebrating small wins gives them something to re-pattern our life around,” so we hope you don’t skip this step.

Fail Forward

Lastly, we’ll talk about something real: what to do if the habit falls away. 

If you have a tiny habit you want to build into your life to support a great goal – such as doing 3 squats after breakfast because you want to live a long and healthy life – and you forget one day… this isn’t the moment to criticize yourself.

Instead, you can do three things:

• Ask yourself: “Did I skip this habit because I actually hate squats, and would prefer countertop push-ups, a 15-second plank, etc.?” If so, choose a different habit that feels more appealing.
  
  

• Ask yourself: “Was this habit not tiny enough?” If so, make it smaller.
  
  

• Imagine yourself doing the full Tiny Habit Recipe: Research shows that imagining ourselves performing a sequence helps cement that sequence into our minds.

If you're new to building consistent habits and routines, we hope this week's theme gave you some new tools to try. And if you're already a pro, we hope some of these prompts will be useful to your ongoing practice!

P.S. If you could use help accomplishing your goals this season, please join us at one of our live guided work sessions, or morning planning sessions!

Take care,

— Anna, focused space host