Mini Habits Book Summary: Achieving Big Results with Small Changes

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[00:00:14] Today we will unlock the book Mini Habits, Smaller Habits, Bigger Results.

[00:00:19] In the process of creating good habits, do you feel that you often cannot persevere, that your determination is withering, and that you want to give up yet feel ashamed at the same time?

[00:00:29] Even when you have eventually formed a good habit, that experience was so traumatic that you never want to go through it again.

[00:00:36] If we told you that you can form good habits without any of this fuss, would you think that this is improbable?

[00:00:42] The author Stephen Geys was once like us. He had numerous problems and challenges in life, yet was complacent and unwilling to change despite having certain aspirations.

[00:00:54] Trying for 10 years, he was unable to develop exercising as a regular habit. Nonetheless, within two years, he eventually managed to obtain his dream figure, produce four times the number of essays, and read ten times as much than before.

[00:01:09] He was able to successfully go through drastic transformations. How was he able to do that? The turning point was in 2012.

[00:01:18] In December, he started doing one push-up a day, read one page a day, and wrote at least 50 words a day.

[00:01:26] How can doing one push up, reading one page, and writing 50 words a day bring about such significant impacts?

[00:01:33] Geys tells us that during the development of habits, getting motivated by the heat of the moment is not reliable. There are many challenges that test our willpower.

[00:01:43] The solution to the problem is to make yourself feel at ease, free of mental pressure and start from many habits.

[00:01:50] You will find that developing good habits does not take much effort.

[00:01:54] Geys published his findings in the article, the one push-up challenge, on his blog.

[00:02:00] The piece reaped great success, and he still receives messages from readers who want to thank him for the positive impact of those suggestions.

[00:02:09] Geys is an average Joe, and for this very reason, his transformation has great relevance for all the other ordinary people like us.

[00:02:17] He developed discipline and habits through his mini-habit strategy, which brought him from doing one push-up a day to a complete and regular exercise routine.

[00:02:26] Even this book is the result of the mini-habit strategy.

[00:02:31] The author had set himself the goals of 50 words a day to start, and at the end of the first week he was able to write up to 1000 words, 1500 the second week, 2000 in the third week, and so on, until he finished this book.

[00:02:46] How did mini-habits help Geys succeed and what is the secret ingredient? We are going to answer these questions by analyzing the book in three parts.

[00:02:55] Part 1. What is a mini-habit?

[00:02:59] Part 2. Why mini-habits cannot fail?

[00:03:02] Part 3. How to use mini-habits to change your life?

[00:03:06] We mentioned how Geys was able to transform himself from a lazy couch potato to a fitness guru because of one simple push-up done back in 2012.

[00:03:15] So how did this one push-up lead him to success?

[00:03:20] In late 2012, Geys, like many others, was looking back at the past year and realized he was not satisfied.

[00:03:27] Wanting to do something before January 1st, which we all think of as a starting point for new years resolutions, he decided to start by exercising right there on the spot for 30 minutes.

[00:03:39] But this thought was instantly suppressed by immense pressure, 30 minutes was way too long, all the pain and soreness after the exercise would be unbearable, so he remained idle.

[00:03:50] He tried many different methods to motivate himself, encouraging himself with phrases such as come on Stephen, listening to uptempo music, and visualizing himself with a great beach body.

[00:04:01] But all these tricks were futile.

[00:04:03] Then he suddenly remembered a fantastic and creative book about thinking and problem solving that he had read.

[00:04:09] One of the methods mentioned in the book was to consider the opposite of what we are currently thinking, forcing our minds to zoom out and see the wider spectrum of possibilities.

[00:04:19] So, Geys asked himself what the opposite of a 30 minute exercise is.

[00:04:24] Eating ice cream while watching TV?

[00:04:28] This would undoubtedly be the opposite of exercising, but obviously not a viable one to keep fit.

[00:04:34] The answer he later realized was in the workouts duration, instead of an intense 30 minute exercise, which would require immense effort and cause post-workout soreness, one push-up seemed very doable.

[00:04:47] But, he had to do more, he got down on the ground and did one push-up. Since he was already in position, he did a few more push-ups.

[00:04:55] From that moment, he subsequently set small challenges of pull-ups and core exercises.

[00:05:01] During the process, he created some microgoals, one more, okay, two more, now one more.

[00:05:08] Every time he baited himself with an easy challenge, he had miraculously completed 30 minutes of exercise.

[00:05:15] He had found impact on Geys. In 2013, for the whole year he continued to do one push-up per day and ultimately built a successful exercise routine.

[00:05:26] The one push-up challenge is in fact a mini habit, he used the mini habit strategy to develop up good custom.

[00:05:33] Mini habits are simplified version of desired habits. For instance, doing 50 push-ups a day can be simplified into doing one a day, writing 2000 words a day can be simplified into writing for a few minutes.

[00:05:44] The key is to break down habits into small steps or easily digestible portions, the size of which depends on the individual.

[00:05:54] For some people, the mini habit to become a creative entrepreneur could be brainstorming two ideas per day, whereas for others just one idea would be enough.

[00:06:03] At this point, you may be wondering if one small habit a day would really help and if there is any actual value in achieving little improvements.

[00:06:13] As a matter of fact, when developing small habits, any small improvement is valuable. Achieving the set goal encourages us to develop and challenge ourselves towards even higher ones.

[00:06:25] Imagine if we had set a goal of 100 push-ups a day. Although many people would be able to do so in the first few days, they would eventually give up soon.

[00:06:35] Moreover, when we say we can start with the mini habit of doing one push-up a day, we are not saying we should stick to that obsessively.

[00:06:42] For instance, if one day we are full of energy, we can do more exercise until we are tired and exhausted.

[00:06:49] If we are lethargic or lax instead, then we can do just one push-up to complete our task.

[00:06:55] Accomplishing such a goal is easy and it can be done every day to experience a sense of achievement.

[00:07:02] Even if yesterday we did 30 push-ups but are only able to do a single one today, we would not feel inadequate.

[00:07:09] Guys was able to reach his achievements on a daily basis, but he had to take baby steps in the beginning.

[00:07:15] If it wasn't for those 50 words per day that set him on the right path, he wouldn't have been able to write 2000 or even 5000 words in a single day.

[00:07:24] Even when once he had a headache and was lacking motivation and energy, he was still able to reach 1000 words.

[00:07:31] And, before employing the mini habit strategy, he did not write at all on some days. It was his hefty ambition to write a lot that intimidated him.

[00:07:40] With the mini goal however, he needs to spend only a few minutes to write the 50 words and complete his daily task.

[00:07:48] This is encouraging and empowering for him.

[00:07:51] When the bar is low, we can continue the task flexibly according to situations and needs.

[00:07:57] Anything that goes beyond that bar is a bonus, and most importantly, we choose to do the extra willingly, without any pressure.

[00:08:05] In that sense, mini habits allow us more autonomy, which helps us persist and persevere.

[00:08:11] A Danish survey conducted by the European Working Conditions Observatory shows that almost 90% of the male employees and almost 85% of the population

[00:08:20] who can, to a great extent, make decisions and exercise control over their work express satisfaction, while only about 56% of those with low job decision latitude assert a high degree of job satisfaction.

[00:08:35] Many habits do not pressure people or burden them. Their execution is simple and easy.

[00:08:41] There is no sense of guilt when goals are not accomplished, so people do not feel controlled by their plans.

[00:08:48] Thus the autonomy keeps motivators.

[00:08:51] That concludes part one of this bookie. We have introduced the mini habit strategies.

[00:08:57] The discovery of mini habit stems from the one push-up strategy, which is basically a desired habit that has been greatly simplified to smaller portions.

[00:09:05] Although the goal for each day is minuscule, reaching it is an important part in the development of good habits, it gives us autonomy and helps us to persist.

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