How I Used the Tiny Habits Method to Increase Content Creation in One Week

By Tim Riddle

Many individuals in the marketing world would jump at the chance to increase their content creation.

I own a marketing company and write or review content for clients almost every week. Several years ago, I wrote my first book, and over the past 12 months, I gathered notes, ideas, outlines, etc., for my second one. I tried to find time to write with my busy schedule, but I started to wonder if I loved the idea more than the process.

Before you jump to conclusions and think my tiny habits wrote the words for me, that’s not the purpose of sharing my experience. I did accomplish more than I expected, but the win was what I learned – a repeatable process that I will take with me when I write books 3, 4, 5…as you can tell, it left me with a new level of optimism.

I’ve read or tried almost every hack to improve productivity. But, as I get older, I have a sense of urgency not to waste the remaining time I have to utilize the gifts God has provided.

So, a month ago, I noticed I had a whole week of no travel. I quickly blocked all the mornings on my calendar, intending to make progress on the book. Then, as a Tiny Habits coach, I began brainstorming a few tiny behaviors I could implement to guide my week. But I felt stuck.

I couldn’t wrap my mind around how to write the volume of words I needed to write, focusing on tiny. I was stuck wondering how the habit of “After I sit down at my desk, I will write one sentence” would help me complete a book anytime soon.

But…surprisingly, I had an epiphany by the end of my writing week and uncovered several tiny habits that, although tiny, were the foundation that produced the results.

Here’s a recap of the tiny habits I used.

I wish they all came from my great wisdom as a Tiny Habits coach, but honestly, some of them found me before I found them. It wasn’t until I reflected on the week that I recognized their significance.

First, I used a starter step by blocking my calendar. I recently heard a martial arts instructor talk about the most significant belt you can earn. The assumption is the black belt, but he said it was the white belt. The white belt is the first belt you receive, indicating that you have started the process. You can’t earn a black belt if you don’t start. Great wisdom to implement with habits; remember the value of setting a tiny habits starter step.

Another starter step I utilized was to prepare myself for the challenge spiritually. As a Christ follower, prayer is a core value, so I intentionally spent the weekend praying for the upcoming week’s challenge.

A final starter step was to break down my big goal for the week into smaller ones. For example, my big goal was to write 15,000 words for the week. I broke that down into 3,000 words per day with a minimum of 500 words per hour.

Next, I thought about the time of day that I do my best work. Mornings are best for me, so I decided to specify the time. I am an early riser, but I decided to set the alarm even earlier, at 4 AM this week. To do this, I knew I had to get the rest I needed, so my first tiny habit was to get to bed by 8:30 PM every evening; “After the clock hits 8 PM, I will get ready for bed.”

Ironically, I woke up before the alarm every morning, thanks to my tiny habit of getting to bed early. I started with my version of the Maui habit, “After I wake up, I will thank God for a great day.” Then, I had a quiet time of devotion and prayer to prepare for the day. During this time, I tried to fight off the negative thoughts of, “I can’t do this… I’ll never be able to do this every day this week… I’m an idiot for thinking I can do this.”

At 5 AM, I sat down at my desk. The time of day allowed me to dive in without distractions. Nobody was emailing or calling me at 5 AM, and after a couple of hours of writing, I was deep enough in the process that interruptions didn’t tempt me. However, I put my computer and phone on focus mode for extra security to silence all notifications.

I then set a timer for 45 minutes. My goal was to write for 45 minutes and take a 15-minute break. At the end of every 45 minutes, I would record the number of words I had written. Sometimes it exceeded my target of 500 words, sometimes, it didn’t, but it kept me on track and focused.

At the end of every 45 minutes, I stopped, took a break, thanked God for the words I had written, and asked for clarity, focus, creativity, and motivation to keep going for another 45 minutes.

To end each day, I focused on thankfulness for the completed day and preparation for the next. Each day was different. For example, Monday was filled with anxiety…In the first hour, I only wrote 250 words. Tuesday was better, although I still questioned if I could make it to the end of the week. Wednesday, I experienced what I call the messy middle. It’s that time when you question why, but I kept moving. Thursday, I wrote the most words. Perhaps I could see the end in sight. And Friday, I had to fight against the excitement of getting to the finish line. After a pep talk to stay focused, Friday was the best day regarding the quality of words written.

Here’s a recap of my tiny habit’s recipes:

Starter Steps

• Block the writing time on my calendar.
• Spend time in prayer the weekend before.

Tiny Habits

• After the clock hits 8 PM, I will head to bed.
• After I wake up, I will thank God for a great day today.
• After I leave the bedroom, I will head to the sunroom for a time of devotion to set the tone for the day.
• After my time of devotion, I will go to my office.
• After I sit down at my desk, I will put my computer and phone in focus mode.
• After I put my computer and phone in focus mode, I will set my 45-minute timer.
• After I finish writing for 45 minutes, I will log the number of words I write.
• After I log the number of words I write, I will take a 15-minute break, thank God for the words written (celebrate), and ask for help for the next 45 minutes.
• After I finish writing for the day, I will record the total words written and celebrate completing the day.
• After I lie in bed at night, I will thank God for the day (celebrate) and ask for help the next day.

Disclaimer: The above steps were actually tinier with more specific trailing edges, but you get my point.

Results

Although I am hesitant to share results because the win for me was the journey each day instead of the finish line, in the spirit of celebration, here they are:

Words Written

• Monday: 3187
• Tuesday: 3715
• Wednesday: 3592
• Thursday: 4092
• Friday: 3656
• Total: 18,242

Conclusion

Here’s my takeaway. It felt as if my tiny habits were the pillars that supported my overzealous goal for the week. Without them, my week would have crumbled. My habits were the connecting issue that moved me from step to step. Funny how the difference between success and failure can indeed be tiny.

When I think back to all the times in the past when I wasn’t as successful as I wanted to be, I typically would chalk those times up as failures where I didn’t work hard enough, wasn’t focused enough, wasn’t capable, etc. When in fact, maybe I needed a few tiny pillars as the supporting foundation.

So the win was NOT the total words I tapped out on my keyboard; to stop there would miss the most significant value. The real win was the change I experienced in myself. Now I can’t wait for my next week of writing. Perhaps I should block that week now with a new starter step!

-Tim Riddle

Check out other Tiny Habits Academy blog articles today.

Interested in becoming a Tiny Habits Certified Coach? Learn more today at www.tinyhabitsacademy.com/certification.

8 Tiny Sleep Habits for a Better Night’s Rest

By Glen Lubbert 

Do you often wonder how to improve your sleep quality?

Do you ever feel like you can’t turn your brain off at night? If so, you’re not alone. 

The problem of getting to sleep is not a small one: One in four U.S. adults don’t get enough sleep, getting 6 hours or less a night. Most adults need 7 to 9 hours, although some people may need as few as 6 hours or as many as 10 hours of sleep each day.

Besides increasing all-cause mortality, losing sleep is also related to problems in both concentration and memory, which lead you to give in to impulsivity and procrastination.

Researchers have shown that moderate sleep deficiency produces the same cognitive and motor impairments as walking around drunk. Needless to say, getting adequate sleep isn’t everything, but it impacts everything.

But trying to wind down after a long day of work can be hard—especially when you’re dealing with stress. Having a good wind-down routine is an essential part of calming your nervous system and allowing you to get enough rest each night to keep yourself healthy and productive during the day. 

To help you get the sleep you need, let’s explore some Tiny Habits to create a successful wind-down routine. 

1. Set A Sleep Schedule and Stick To It 

One of the best ways to ensure good quality sleep is to establish—and stick to—a consistent sleep schedule. Your body has its own internal clock that it follows, which means going to bed and waking up around the same time every day helps it adjust and develop a steady rhythm. This makes it easier for your body to recognize when it’s time for sleep, which can make winding down much more efficient and effective. 

One major thing that keeps the nervous system in its alert state that is not conducive to winding down is electronic devices such as phones and tablets. The blue light emitted by screens suppresses the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep, making it harder for you to fall asleep and feel fully rested.

To help stick to a sleep schedule, one of the first Tiny Habits I recommend is to build in a habit to put the phone to “bed” 2-3 hours before your bedtime. 

This means plugging it into its charger outside of the bedroom. 

Keeping it outside of the bedroom also has the added benefit of giving your brain time to wake up in the morning without immediately grabbing the phone. Scientific research has shown that when you look at your phone first thing in the morning, your brain experiences a sudden surge in cortisol (the stress hormone), which can negatively impact your mood and alertness. Additionally, exposing yourself to social media and news can increase anxiety and stress levels, leading to a less productive and fulfilling day. 

Using the clock for a prompt to put the phone to “bed” works well. When you match a new tiny habit with the prompt, this is called a Tiny Habit recipe. For example:

After I notice it’s past 8:30, I will put the phone to bed.

I usually don’t recommend using phone alerts as prompts for a Tiny Habit, but in this case, I like to use an alarm to alert me that it’s 8:30. It’s easy to let time slip away, especially in the evening when our brain is fatigued from a day of decisions. This is a slight variation on the Tiny Habit recipe above:

After I hear my 8:30 alarm, I will put the phone to bed.

Have fun with it, like saying, “goodnight phone. It’s your bedtime.” 

2. Create An Environment That Encourages Relaxation 

Creating an environment in your bedroom that promotes relaxation is key. Take some time before bed each night to dim any bright lights, shut off screens, and start turning your attention away from work-related tasks or other stressful activities. Also, consider incorporating elements into your room that promote tranquility, like black-out shades, calming music, and a candle. This will help signal to your mind and body that it’s time to unwind and creates a magnetically-attractive cocoon environment.

Temperature is also a very important environmental factor. Our bodies naturally regulate our sleep-wake cycle based on changes in temperature. As bedtime approaches, our body temperature naturally drops, signaling to our brain that it is time to sleep. 

A cooler room temperature helps to mimic this natural drop in body temperature and facilitates the onset of sleep. Additionally, when we sleep in a cooler environment, our body works to generate heat, which can help us feel more comfortable and fall asleep faster. Research has shown that the optimal room temperature for sleep is around 65°F (18°C), so it’s recommended to keep your sleeping environment cool and comfortable to help improve the quality of your sleep.

Here are some recommended Tiny Habit recipes for setting your environment for a restful night of sleep:

• After I clean the last dish from dinner, I will dim the lights in the house.
• After I turn off the lights in the house for the evening, I will set the thermostat to 65 degrees.
• After I enter my bedroom for the night, I will close the blackout shades on the windows.

With each one, it’s helpful to think of the satisfaction a good night of sleep will be for you after you do the habit. This will help release the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine, helping make the behavior more automatic and less effortful.

3. Practice Stress-Relieving Rituals Before Bed 

Finally, try implementing stress-relieving rituals into your nightly routine as well. This could include things like taking a warm bath or shower, doing some gentle yoga stretches, journaling about what happened during the day or writing down goals for tomorrow, meditating or deep breathing exercises, reading an enjoyable book (preferably one without too much action), or listening to soothing music before bedtime. These activities can help relax both your body and mind so that you can drift off into dreamland more easily.

A warm bath or hot shower before bed can help you sleep better by regulating your body temperature. As you read above about setting up your environment for a cocoon of sleep, the temperature is an important and easy way to help your body prepare for sleep.

As you soak in warm water or take a hot shower, your body temperature rises, which then triggers a rapid drop in body temperature when you step out of the bath or shower. This drop in body temperature signals to your brain that it’s time to sleep, making it easier for you to fall asleep and stay asleep. 

The warm water can also help to relax your muscles and reduce tension to help with the wind-down process. However, it’s important to note that taking a hot bath or shower too close to bedtime can interfere with your body’s natural drop in temperature and make it harder to fall asleep, so it’s best to allow some time to pass between your bath or shower and bedtime.

Here are some recommended Tiny Habit recipes for setting your stress-relieving wind-down ritual to improve your sleep quality:

• After I close the door to the kid’s room at night for their bedtime, I will turn the shower on (or run the water for a bath).
• After I climb into bed, I will open a book to read.
• After I brush my teeth and leave the bathroom for the night, I will meditate (or sit calmly with my eyes closed) for one minute.

Make this wind-down routine your own. Consider what relaxes you and make space for that. Often I find, once you put the phone to “bed,” you naturally begin to design a wind down that works for you.  

By following these Tiny Habits on setting a sleep schedule, creating an environment that encourages relaxation, and practicing stress-relieving rituals before bedtime each night, you’ll be well on your way towards getting better quality sleep every single night.

-Glen Lubbert

Check out other Tiny Habits Academy blog articles today.

Interested in becoming a Tiny Habits Certified Coach? Learn more today at www.tinyhabitsacademy.com/certification.

Zumba: A Tiny Habit Set to Music

A Zumba® workout is Tiny Habits® set to music.

By Val McKinley

Val@PrioritizeHabits.com, IG:@lifecoach_Val

🎶Energy 🎶Movement🎶Momentum🎶Celebration

After I’m introduced to new vocabulary words, I will look them up. Then I’ll say, “I’ve just learned something new!” Zumba? Tiny Habits? Celebration? Let me define them for you. 

Zumba® is Tiny Habits® Set to Music: An aerobic fitness program featuring movements inspired by various styles of Latin American dance and performed primarily to Latin American dance music. Zumba is an interval workout. The classes move between high-and low-intensity dance moves designed to get your heart rate up and boost cardio endurance.

Tiny Habits® : A “Tiny Habit” is a behavior you do at least once a day, takes you less than 30 seconds, and that requires little effort. Take a behavior you want to start doing and make it tiny. Find where it naturally fits in your life and nurture its growth. 

Tiny Habit recipes are made up of an anchor moment, a new tiny behavior, and an instant celebration; A-B-C! After I…, I will B. Then, Celebrate! 

Celebration: A way to tell ourselves that we’ve done a good job. When we celebrate, we fire off positive emotions. Celebration helps us achieve; to go beyond the minimum requirements. It’s how we wire in behavior and make it automatic. Celebration can be physical movement, music, phrases, visualization, or sound effects.

After my pre-Zumba timer goes off, I will pick up my workout clothes. Then, I’ll say, “I feel like dancing!”

The other day I realized why I was so attracted to both Zumba and Tiny Habits. They are both positive pursuits that have so much in common. No wonder I keep going back for more!!

In Tiny Habits, BJ Fogg explains that feeling good and feeling like you’re making progress are essential to growth and happiness. Bingo! Embedding many new Tiny Habits into my life over these last two years has definitely caused me to feel good about myself and the choices I’m making in my life. Zumba invigorates me. I’m making progress when I add arm movements to the footsteps. If the routine gets a bit complicated, I choose one part of my body to focus on and do that part. 

After I master the leg movement, I will add part of the arm movement, and celebrate by saying “Yes!”

After I complete one dance without one pound weights, I will pick up my weights to do the next dance with them and celebrate by saying “That feels good!”

When we plant tiny habits, we keep the behaviors in our recipes very tiny for the days we don’t feel like doing much. On days we feel like doing more, we grow the behavior. After we do the behavior, we celebrate. This wires in the habit more quickly. For me, the celebration during Zumba is the music! It is an ongoing element that creates positive emotion and wires in the accompanying body movements almost effortlessly.

After I put my purse down at Zumba, I will put my earplugs in and say “I’m ready to move!”

After I start to chide myself for not getting all the moves down right away, I will look around at those who have had a stroke, brain surgery, or are overweight and will tell myself that showing up is the important thing. I’ll celebrate by saying “I am a person who practices self-care.”

After I berate myself for not getting all the moves, I will say to myself, “Be Kind!” and celebrate by saying “I’m proud of myself for showing up today.”

After the music starts, I will express gratitude for this day by focusing on the way my body moves to the music. The music is my celebration!

After Zumba class, I will appreciate the positivity and camaraderie of the participants that I witnessed that hour. I’ll celebrate the experience.

Because Zumba is something I want to do, I feel I am making progress almost effortlessly. So it is with the habits that I have successfully planted in my life. These include: getting out of bed and expressing gratitude for the day, making my bed, doing the starter step of a plank, stretching while waiting for my water to heat in the microwave, choosing a job stick when I feel overwhelmed, and writing in my Gains journal every night after getting into bed. 

The above habits all involve complex sequences of steps, just like the  steps in Zumba. I have been able to incorporate complex sequences because I have started tiny and added to behaviors when I wanted to; thereby gaining confidence and success momentum over time. If I ever feel overwhelmed by emotions/life, I can always do the tiniest step to keep the behavior planted in my life. I am still remaining true to myself.

Lastly, both the Tiny Habits and Zumba communities embrace diversity!  The groups share core values of acceptance, happiness, joy, enthusiasm, positivity and fun! Participation in either guarantees to be judgment free, to meet you where you’re at, to allow you to proceed at your own pace, and to help you do what you want to do!!

I encourage you to explore a form of movement that you enjoy-mine just happens to be Zumba- and the Tiny Habits Method. I hope that they hold the same attraction for you as they have for me.

If you’re looking for some ideas for habit recipes, I offer a few suggestions below. Self-love is such an important foundation for creating a life you want to live in. Some recipe examples* to habituate self-love:

• When I look in the mirror, I will give myself a high five.

• After I say something negative about myself, I will ask, “Would I say that to a friend?”

• When I feel myself getting upset, I will take three deep breaths to calm myself down.

• When I look in the mirror, I will stand up straight, smile, and say, “Look at me now!”

• After I feel anxious, I will do some form of physical activity.

• When I get in bed, I will write one Gain I accomplished today and write one Gain I hope to accomplish tomorrow. 

• When my head hits the pillow, I will say one thing I am grateful for.

• After I say something negative about myself, I will say, “How could I reframe that thought into something positive?”

• When I have an ANT (Automatic Negative Thought; Dr. Daniel Amen), I will ask myself if it’s true.

*Don’t forget to add your own celebration

For more from Val McKinley, see her Tiny Habits course Creating Calm Within.

Check out other Tiny Habits Academy blog articles today.

Interested in becoming a Tiny Habits Certified Coach? Learn more today at www.tinyhabitsacademy.com/certification.

Elevate your health and happiness with these three habits

by Teena George

Hi there! Let’s start with a quick round of Two Truths and a Lie. 

Here goes – 

I have: 

1. left my office at 3 am one day and reported back to work at 9 am on the same day
2. passed out at work owing to immense stress and had to be taken to a hospital in an ambulance
3. continued hosting a work event despite getting a text message that my husband was in an accident

Which statement do you think is a lie? 

If you guessed two as the answer, you’re right! 

GIF source: https://giphy.com/ 

You may be thinking that the other two statements are just as unbelievable. I agree with you. However, reading them gives you at least some idea of how seriously I used to take my work. 

I cringe now as I write this. However, at the cost of my health, an earlier version of me is guilty of: 

1. working for insanely long hours and even working on weekends 
2. pursuing perfection in all the projects I undertook 
3. wearing ‘busyness’ as a badge of honor

And as we say about Tiny Habits: “Tiny changes, big results.” So it is with seemingly small bad behaviors that we have. They compound over time and lead to life-impacting changes. For me, continuous stress coupled with long hours at work and consistently neglecting my health resulted in me getting diagnosed with Meniere’s Disease. (If this is the first time you’ve heard this term and want to know more, I’ve shared a link at the end of the blog.) 

They’re right when they say, “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.” Frequent unannounced dizziness, a symptom of Meniere’s, helped me understand and appreciate that GOOD HEALTH IS THE ONE THING ON WHICH EVERYTHING ELSE DEPENDS.

Come to think of it, if you have good health you can invest your time and effort to build and strengthen your relationships, perform optimally at work, achieve your goals, make your dreams come true, and contribute to the greater good by helping others. Needless to say, your ability to do any of this becomes limited when your health suffers. 

I am grateful that I got Meniere’s Disease when I did because it made me pause and re-evaluate my priorities, and it helped me start taking better care of my health. As of today, Meniere’s is an incurable disease and it’s progressive. So, while the symptoms do show up uninvited every once in a while, the three habits outlined below helped me manage Meniere’s and find my way back to good health. 

It goes without saying that you don’t need to have Meniere’s or any other ailment to start any of these. They’ll benefit anyone.  

1. Gratitude: Being grateful for what I have, focusing on what I can do as opposed to what is out of bounds for me, and counting my blessings have helped me from going on a downward spiral.  

 Image source: https://www.azquotes.com/

2. Exercise: While the variety of exercises I can do are limited, I have managed to lose 8 kilos and keep it off (something I struggled with for almost seven years.)  

 Image source: https://awesomeatyourjob.com/ 

3. Meditation: Meditating has helped me stay calm when I get anxious or overwhelmed. It has helped reduce the instances of Meniere’s attacks and generally changed my earlier perception that meditation is only for those with monk-like focus. 

 Image source: https://twitter.com/

These three practices are proven ways to build and sustain good health. I go into the details in my Uplift Your Well-being with Tiny Habits course. 

Here are Three Tiny Habits® Recipes to get you started with these powerful practices: 

1. After I sit on my bed at night, I will be grateful for one person/thing in my life. 
2. After I switch on the coffee maker, I will do three stretches. 
3. After I brush my teeth, I will focus on my breath for three breaths. 

Like these Tiny Habits Recipes? Download them here. 

Which of the three (gratitude, exercise, meditation) are you already doing daily?

Which of the three do you want to start?

If you: 

• want to be healthy to savor the good things in life
• have been meaning to start focusing on your health but haven’t found the time
• want to be able to manage stress better
• would like to be more creative and productive
• just want to be happier…

join my Uplift Your Well-being with Tiny Habits course featuring Dr. BJ Fogg and his colleague + my fellow Tiny Habits Certified Coach, Stephanie Weldy. 

 Image source: https://www.azquotes.com/ 

You can read more about Meniere’s Disease here. 

Contributor: Teena George 

Connect with me at:

Website: https://www.habitsandmindsets.com/ 

LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/in/teena-george1 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/habitsandmindsets/ 

Check out other Tiny Habits Academy blog articles today.

Interested in becoming a Tiny Habits Certified Coach? Learn more today at www.tinyhabitsacademy.com/certification.

More Isn’t Always Better

When 95% is Not Better Than 0% 

By Val McKinley

We usually think that more is better, but in reality, more isn’t always better. In the world of behavior change, we encourage ourselves and others to do 1% better than the day before. The 1% adds up over time and voila; before we know it, the things that were hard for us or that we had resisted doing, get done. We feel good. Success momentum propels us forward…

Until it doesn’t. I thought I was leading my best life, traveling between grandchildren, and I had created a portable coaching business and was enjoying the interaction with clients. Over the last two years I had consistently practiced making healthy food choices; also integrating a lot of movement and self-care practices into my daily routine. My husband is a loving partner and I have an amazing social network of family and friends.

So why am I writing this and what does this have to do with Tiny Habits? Last week after a visit with my family in VA, I was scheduled to fly back home to San Diego. That morning, after experiencing yet another two episodes of gastro discomfort which had escalated in frequency and intensity, I was extremely hesitant to get on an airplane. In the midst of not knowing which way to turn, I had an epiphany…’Call Will!’ I had been so preoccupied with my indecision and where to turn, that I had forgotten to ask for help. Help for me was the idea to call Will, my nephew who’s a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic in MN. After he’d listened and synthesized all that I told him, he said that I should not fly, but instead take a taxi to the nearest cardiac hospital which he had determined would give me the best care based on the symptoms I presented.

My intuition and call to my nephew probably saved my life. Within 24 hours of admission, I was in surgery during which a stent was placed in my left anterior descending artery – best known as the Widowmaker. It was 95% blocked! Little did I know that a stroke can be a complication of this procedure. 

As soon as I saw my daughter in the recovery room, I knew that something had gone wrong. I had never experienced coming out of anesthesia with the types of symptoms I was experiencing. My vision was totally out of whack. Every move caused vertigo and/or dizziness. I felt so out of control and very frightened. I was soon taken in for a CAT scan, which I later learned was to determine the type of stroke I had experienced.

When a doctor came in the next morning and asked how I was doing I said, “Not good!” He said, bless his heart, “We’re on this!” I went through a myriad of emotions; sadness, pity, tears, and fear to name a few. Questions such as, “Is this my new normal? How will I do what I love to do? Will I be able to hold my grandbaby?” etc., raced through my mind. Several abilities once taken for granted had suddenly been swept out from under me. Talk about being thrown for a loop – literally and figuratively!

This is where Tiny Habits came to the rescue. I know tiny is transformative. I know that self-confidence is the by-product of doing what I say I will do. When I celebrate the behaviors I have planted in my life, my body releases feel-good chemicals like dopamine and oxytocin. This process wires in the habits that I want to achieve more quickly.  Action is the catalyst of long-term change. Because I’ve developed the skills of change over time, I knew I could start taking control of my life. 

I was told specialists would not be coming to evaluate me until the next day. However, I knew that for me, waiting was not an option. I had a pity party and cried and was sad. Then, after a few minutes, I told myself to come up with one thing I could do to help myself heal as I was seeing double and was extremely dizzy. The recipes were: After I put a patch on one eye, I will set the timer for ten minutes. I celebrated. After the timer goes off, I will change the patch to the other eye. I celebrated. Repeat…By planting the seed of change that day, I felt empowered. I felt hopeful. I felt that I was doing something to move forward in my healing. Step-by-step, little by little.

Note: For women reading this, or men who have women in their lives, please know: The classic symptoms of a heart attack are different in women!! Even if you have no family history of cholesterol problems, have your cholesterol checked. If you don’t feel like yourself, trust yourself. Address your health symptoms until a root cause is found. Good luck. Be well!

Update: I was in rehab at the hospital for a week and then went to my daughter’s for a week. I was cleared to fly back home to CA  at the end of the second week. Two habits that I continued to do post stroke were a modified hospital version of the Maui habit upon awakening and my bedtime habit of After I get in bed, I will write my gains for the day and write 3 things I hope to accomplish the next day. And then I celebrated!

I am a firm believer that maintaining a routine helped keep negativity at bay as I continued to heal.

A few weeks after arriving home, I started going to Zumba again. It’s my favorite form of movement. I knew that the full hour of spinning and quick movements would be too much, so my modification was, During my  ½ hour of Zumba, I will walk the steps and look forward. Then celebrate that I was back! Over the next few weeks, I slowly started increasing my time in class, adding head movements and turns as long as I maintained my orientation.

Two months in, I got to start driving again! Yea! I have been in the company of my granddaughter in the last few weeks, getting to hold her and take care of her as before.  Life is good! I feel so blessed to be back to my former self.

Best wishes,

Val McKinley

Tiny Habits Certified Coach

Course Creator: Tiny Habits for Green Light Living—Using Emotional Regulation as a Catalyst for Action

https://www.instagram.com/lifecoach_val/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifecoachval/

How to be More Mindful

Five Tiny Mindfulness Habits That Have a Big Impact

By Kristen Manieri 

“Mindfulness isn’t difficult. We need to remember to do it,” says renowned writer and meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg. What a paradox! Mindfulness—the act of bringing our attention into the present moment—is easy… if we’re mindful! 

It’s true that nearly anyone can cultivate the skill of mindfulness. In fact, most of us learn present-moment awareness without being formally educated in it, without ever being told what mindfulness is and why it matters. We have all experienced what it’s like when our attention returns to the moment we are actually in right now, regardless of how fleeting that particular moment of presence was. This is mindfulness. Easy. 

But try to build a mindful life—a life so steeped in present-moment awareness that mindlessness is battled nearly to extinction—not so easy. 

The good news is that we are all capable of more mindfulness when we make a commitment to practice more often. A reliable tool for regular practice is habits. Any activity we do with enough consistency to become automated no longer requires our focus or deliberateness. Once we habituate an activity, it becomes seemingly effortless. 

Using the power of habits, mindfulness can become effortless, too.

Whether your goal is to become more present or productive, compassionate or creative, it all starts with turning your awareness to the present moment. Mindfulness habits, coupled with the right intention and attention, dig mental grooves that allow you to return to your awareness and the present moment over and over again. 

When we merge the science of habits with the art of mindfulness, we discover a formula for a mindful life and a solution to Sharon Salzberg’s challenge. Mindfulness isn’t difficult. And we CAN remember to do it. We just need a little help. The following habits are a great place to get started. 

HABIT #1

30-Second Check-In

Mindfulness is a homecoming. So much of our day is focused on the exterior of our lives. When we slow down and pause, we’re invited to revisit and re-inhabit our inner world, even for just a few seconds. 

The practice of a 30-second check-in is simply pausing to tune in to the feelings, sensations and thoughts in the body and mind. Think of it like a weather report. Close your eyes and check in. Is it stormy, breezy, or sunny? Are you holding any tension or ruminating on any worries? 

Noticing what’s happening inside grants us an opportunity to tend to it. Are you thirsty, hungry or achy? What needs is the body asking to be filled? With our awareness turned inward we may notice anxiety, stress or frustration building. Maybe you need a break or to step away to get perspective. When we are mindful, we can choose to regulate ourselves, which helps us access the higher functions of the brain where our capacity to make good decisions and wise choices is stored. We become less of a knee-jerk reactor and more of a thoughtful responder. 

Try this: Start tiny! Close your eyes for 10 seconds and simply see what’s there. How do you feel? What are your dominant thoughts? What emotions are present? Notice what it feels like to return to yourself. 

Here’s a habit recipe you could try: 

After I use the restroom, I will close my eyes for 10 seconds and check in with myself. 

HABIT #2

Mindful Mealtime Pause

Put up your hand if you sit down to eat and just start mindlessly chowing down. If you could see me, you’d see my hand up, too. Meals are perhaps some of our most mindless moments. It’s tough to eat mindfully, but I find it gets easier when I begin my meals with the habit of taking a mindful pause. 

When I sit down to eat dinner, I close my eyes and let myself feel my hunger. This pause offers me the chance to feel very grateful for the food in front of me, all those who played a part in getting it to my table, and to appreciate how fortunate I am to have healthy food to eat. I find this pause also slows me down long enough to savor my food, at least the first few mindful bites. 

Here’s a habit recipe you could try: 

After I sit down to eat, I will close my eyes, pause and feel grateful. 

HABIT #3

Waiting in Gratitude

I had a terrible habit of checking my phone when I’m stopped at red lights and I really wanted to break it. As I learned from BJ Fogg, it’s much easier to replace a habit than to break one, especially one that we’ve been doing for a long time. 

So, I began the habit of placing my phone in my purse instead of in the center console. Having it out of reach lowered the temptation and removed the visual prompt. Then when I arrive at a red light, I take a moment to think of a few things I’m grateful for. 

Here are habit recipes you could try: 

After I get into the car, I will put my phone out of reach and out of sight. 

After I stop at a red light, I will think of three things I’m grateful for. 

HABIT #4

Three Deep Breaths

Without getting too much into the science, believe me when I say that just taking three deep breaths has a tremendous influence on your nervous system. We breathe short, shallow breaths when we’re stressed. It’s a way of our body getting us into a position for either flight or fight. 

The trouble is, we don’t typically face any real threats most of the time. But we think threatening thoughts, which make our body think that we’re in trouble. A good way to reset and to restore our inner peace and calm is to slow and deepen our breathing. 

Try this: Once a day, sit somewhere comfortably and close your eyes. Take a breath in through the nose to the count of five or six. Hold the breath for a second or two and then exhale through the mouth with a big sigh. Repeat this again two more times. 

What you’ll likely notice is a feeling of ease as your nervous system starts to register the signals that you’re safe and well. You might even say silently to yourself, “all is well.” This quick, little reset can help you power down at the end of the day, shift from work to family time, and can help you regulate your emotions when you’re feeling upset. 

Here are a few habit recipes you could try: 

After I get into bed at night, I will take three deep breaths. 

After I get into the car after work, I will take three deep breaths. 

HABIT #5

Mindful Hand-Washing

Handwashing is something we all (hopefully) do automatically and mostly mindlessly several times a day. This makes it a great anchor for a mindful moment! 

For this habit, you’ll still wash your hands as you normally do. The only difference is that you’ll wash them with your attention singularly focused on the task at hand rather than letting your mind wander or rushing through. 

I like to use this moment of presence to practice keeping my attention focused on something that’s pretty mundane. My mind isn’t really interested in focusing on washing my hands because it’s something I’ve already done a million times and I don’t need any special attention in order to do it correctly. Being with my mind as it naturally wanders away with thoughts of my day or what I’m going to do next is an interesting exercise in simply training my mind to stay present. And since I wash my hands about a dozen times a day, I get loads of practice. 

Try this: As you turn on the tap and put soap onto your hands, tune into the sensory experience (sight, sound, smell, touch) of this everyday practice of washing your hands. Allow yourself to drop deeply into the experience and really feel all the sensations you’re experiencing. Use this practice as a mini holiday in your day and a chance to come home to yourself, even for just 20 seconds. 

Here’s a habit recipe you could try: 

After I put soap on my hands, I will bring my full attention and awareness to the act of washing my hands. 

Making Habits Stick

If you’re up for it, pick just one of these habits to work on in the next week. Instead of aiming for a slam dunk, set the intention to simply learn about how you build habits. Troubleshoot and pivot rather than throw in the towel if a habit isn’t sticking. And remember, keep it tiny and easy. You can scale up your habit once it’s sticky. 

Check out other Tiny Habits Academy blog articles today.

Interested in becoming a Tiny Habits Certified Coach? Learn more today at www.tinyhabitsacademy.com/certification.

Tiny Habits for Reducing ADHD Symptoms  

Tiny Habits for Reducing ADHD Overwhelm  

Stephanie Marcusky, CALC

If you are familiar with the Spoon Theory for chronic illness, or the idea of how to best allocate resources in a system, you may understand the idea that some people with ADHD feel that they only have the emotional energy for some activities and that there may be a lot of things that they can’t get to in a given day. 

You might also think of this as “bandwidth” – the emotional energy you have available to handle activities and stress is analogous to the amount of data traffic that can be handled by the network. 

Neurotypical people who subscribe to a GTD (Get Things Done)/Eat The Frog way of life may not understand this.

How Many Health Points? 

So let’s put it another way – When you start a new game that uses Health Points (HP), you generally have a small number of health points, but the activities you’re supposed to do only need a few. You level up pretty quickly, and you get more capacity for health points. There comes a point, though, when doing only small activities makes it take longer to level up, so you might have to slog through slow gameplay before you can level up.

Bigger activities take more HP but you get the rewards of accelerating through the game.

If we’re talking real life, going to college is going to get us farther in life than staying home and doing small chores. But it’s going to take a lot of HP. And if we have anything else that needs HP – physical or mental health problems, family to care for, unsafe living arrangements, unsafe communities, lack of transportation, cost of books and courses, all the way up to systemic economic and social structure problems – it might take longer.

The Six ‘S’s

On an individual level, if you need help getting your life under some semblance of control, some ADHD Life Coaches use the acronym of Three Ss: Structure, Support, and Systems. I like to add Strategies, Strengths, and Skills. To explain:

Structure is along the lines of how you organize your environment to help you.  For example:

• Do you have a place for your keys by the front door? 
• Where do you keep medication so you can take it consistently? 
• How do you track and respond to tasks and appointments (written versus electronic planners)?

Support is alarms, automatic bill pay, Alexa/Siri/Google for creating shopping lists and setting timers, hiring people to help, or finding a friend to body double while you do boring things.

Strategies are how you approach problems. We may unconsciously start getting angry when things aren’t going the way we planned, but if we take the time to step back and re-examine, we may find a way to reframe the issue that helps us let go of some of the anger. Or we take a time-out to work off some steam with exercise or music.

Strengths mean using what we are good at. It may be different than what we’ve been taught is important, but it is our strength, and it’s important to start there and build on that. A fish isn’t going to be good at climbing a tree, but maybe swimming is exactly what helps you succeed.

Skills can be learned to support you where you might be lacking.

Systems are routines to order your life and environment. 

When we want to make a change to our routine behaviors, whether it’s adding exercise, flossing our teeth, or meditating – things that can fall into any of these Six Ss – we need a system to change our behaviors. 

The Fogg Behavior Model

BJ Fogg, a behavior researcher at Stanford, realized that behaviors need 3 elements to occur (https://behaviormodel.org/): Motivation, Ability, and a Prompt. 

If you aren’t motivated to make a change, you probably won’t. If you’re very motivated, but don’t have the ability to make the change, you won’t – throwing a library of motivation books at you isn’t going to help. And if you don’t notice an internal sensation (like needing to use the restroom) or an external “flag” (your medicine is next to the coffee maker so you can take it before you leave for work), you might not realize/remember you should do that behavior.

This leads to figuring out how to help people make those behaviors easier.

Creating a Tiny Habit

Tiny Habits® helps you create new behaviors, and it’s as easy as ABC: Anchor habit, tiny new Behavior, and Celebration.

Your Anchor is your prompt, a tiny new Behavior is small enough that you can do it quickly, and the Celebration sets the habit by flooding your brain with feel-good chemicals. Looking at it another way, (maybe more scientifically) you are strengthening your neural pathway to do that behavior. Three simple ingredients, and the encouragement to play and stay curious.

So why did I start with the long-winded Health Points game-play story, you ask? Because Tiny Habits is the key to getting more done with less HP. When you set a new habit in place after an anchor habit, you can grow it to become automatic, and you can move it from something that takes emotional labor/”HP” to something you don’t have to think through. So either it becomes a lower HP item, or almost a 0 HP item, and you can use that HP for something else.

If you know your kids are going to be bickering and asking questions and forgetting clothing items as you’re trying to get them out of the door, adding a new habit isn’t going to work right then. But if you add the Tiny Habit of hanging your car keys by the door when you come home, you save yourself a lot of HP later. If you help the kids learn the habit of putting their shoes in the bin by the door instead of letting them take the shoes into the living room where they can be lost under the couch, you’re saving time, frustration and brain power.

Why Habit Stacking Doesn’t Work

You may have heard of “habit stacking” – a 13-step process for creating a repeatable set of habits – a routine – that you can adopt to make things easier. The problem is, the more you stack together, the more likely your proverbial Jenga tower of blocks can fall if you forget something. 

A Better Strategy for Success

Let’s go back to the idea of marshaling the kids out the door to get to school. If you get distracted by a kid looking for a shoe, you might forget that you are supposed to grab your keys, then grab your lunch bag, then grab your purse/laptop bag.

I would suggest that you set 2 or 3 separate habits: when you put your coffee cup/dirty dish by the sink, move the lunch bag by the door. When you grab your shoes, move the work bag to the door. Then when you grab your keys, you will grab your bags. This is an extra check to be sure you have both bags together.

If you’re looking to reduce your stress by adding mindfulness to your day, trying to find specific time to set aside can be hard, especially with kids. But you can build a Tiny Habit to add 30 seconds of mindful breathing every time you go to the bathroom and wash your hands. 

Our modern world is complex, fast-paced, and not wired to help you focus on long-term goals. So, perfect to distract our already-distractible brains even more. The less our overburdened brains need to remember, the lighter their load and the lower our stress and overwhelm. Tiny Habits turns more high-frequency behaviors into automatic habits and increases our ability to tackle more high-energy/HP/bandwidth activities without getting overwhelmed as quickly.

Living in Integrity through Tiny Habits

Name: Chandni Sawlani

One of the biggest sources of pain and anxiety in my life, and perhaps the lives of most of us, is witnessing and knowing all that I can be but not being able to close the gap. For years like most people, I’d go through cycles of being highly motivated. Inspired by experiences that moved me deeply, I’d set powerful new intentions, take massive action, and then have all of these new behaviors fizzle away.

I first came across Tiny Habits in the middle of the pandemic in 2020. I remember going through the 5-day program, and beginning to get a sense of how it worked. My first round wasn’t too successful, but something stuck, something clicked into place, and so I gave it another shot. And BOOM…I got it! The first layer of understanding of this simple and powerful method locked in.

1. Showing up consistently as my best self

The first piece I started to work on was my morning routine. For years I’d had fleeting phases of success with my morning routine and had experienced how this impacted the version of me I’d show up as through the day.

I started with this Tiny Habit: ‘After I open my bedroom door, I will roll out my yoga mat’ (and celebrate!). And lo and behold, there I was, rolling out my yoga mat, day after day, feeling absolute delight go through me. Soon enough, rolling out my yoga mat turned into a 20-minute yoga practice. In time, this was complemented by a meditation routine and other pieces.

Now, about a year and a half later, I wake up to my dream morning routine without fail, almost every day, even when I am travelling, even after a late night. I wake up, sip some hot herbal tea with a book to read, roll out my yoga mat and stretch, meditate for 20 minutes, send my loved ones morning messages, eat a bowl of fruit, and have a hot shower. It is my default now, and I couldn’t imagine more than a day or two of not living this routine! What’s amazing is that this routine has evolved and gone through many iterations. It’s flexible and I tweak it whenever I feel inspired to. It feels so simple to add and delete pieces, to move things around.

The returns from locking this in are priceless. I start each day feeling deeply centered and in integrity with myself. I’m able to show up to the day with stillness and with a smile. And more consistently, I have productive and successful days!

2. Responding and no longer reacting

The second most important piece that my Tiny Habits have helped me with is responding to challenging situations, especially ones that are emotionally triggering. 

For the last few years, I have been trying really hard to navigate a certain challenging relationship with integrity. What kept me stuck was my disappointment with who I had been in this relationship. My behavior was out of alignment with the person I know I am. Intentions failed me in moments of being deeply triggered, and I’d find myself reacting with frustration and helplessness. 

When I read Amy’s story of Pearl Habits in the Tiny Habits book, it moved me to tears. I finally felt there was hope in this situation, and I had a new approach I could try. I started with the Tiny Habit: ‘After I feel emotionally triggered in a conversation, I will stand up and get into a power pose’. 

This Tiny Habit was a game-changer. It allowed me to change my physiology in a moment of stress and create a moment of pause, the space to choose my response. Over time I found myself reacting less and responding more deeply to my authentic self.

This Tiny Habit then rippled to other Tiny Habits designed specifically to navigate the nuances of this challenging relationship. Now, about 10 months from when I first started this experiment, I have managed to close and complete this relationship. There is not as much mutual acceptance as I had hoped for, but I have a sense of inner peace that comes with being in integrity with myself.

3. Growing and evolving consistently

The third piece that my Tiny Habits have really helped with is the confidence to pursue learning and growth consistently. 

The massive gap between information and action has been a serious cause of anxiety for me. Learning was stressful because the weight of not implementing things was painful and overwhelming. 

Through Tiny Habits and the overall mindset of keeping things tiny, simple, and sustainable, I have grown confident in my ability to integrate new learnings into my life, be it professionally or personally. For instance, now whenever I complete a session of absorbing any new content or information, I have a Tiny Habit recipe: ‘After I finish reading/watching/listening to something, I will ask myself ‘What is the one thing that is most relevant for me to remember/integrate from this right now?’ This has definitely brought ease into my life, and I find myself growing and evolving more rapidly than I ever thought possible!

Tiny Habits has been the single most important framework in my toolkit for living in integrity with who I am. With my current understanding of Tiny Habits, I am confident that I can bring any change that I desire into my life, and that gives me such a sense of freedom and joy! 

I sincerely hope that you find this freedom too 🙂 Here’s a link to sign up for the free 5-day program that got me started on this journey.
Through my business Moonlight Accelerators, I support young game-changers step deeply into integrity with themselves and do their greatest work in the world! Tiny Habits is an important part of our toolkit. You can learn more here.

Check out other Tiny Habits Academy blog articles today.

Interested in becoming a Tiny Habits Certified Coach? Learn more today at www.tinyhabitsacademy.com/certification.

Are Your Habits Hurting Your Brain? Part 3

Healthy habits for your brain

Yesterday we examined how mindless routines can be transformed into mini-workouts for your brain. If you haven’t read that post, check it out! Today we’re going to look at how healthy habits can lose their potency, and how to reinvigorate them.

The Puzzling Truth About Crossword Puzzles

It makes sense that adding cognitive challenge to routine tasks like brushing your teeth can benefit your brain, but if you do a crossword puzzle every day, isn’t that a workout on its own? Maybe. Crossword puzzles are the quintessential example of a cognitive challenge, but if you regularly breeze through yours it might have become like that route you take to work, to well-worn to excite your mind. If brain boosting is your goal, you never want to get too comfortable.

In his seminal work Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihály Csíkszentmihályi explains how the perfect combination of skill and challenge leads to satisfaction and growth. This same principle applies to many of the activities that are routinely touted as brain-building. Whether you play a musical instrument, study a foreign language, play chess or memorize poetry, you can eventually become so proficient that the activity is no longer stimulating or rewarding. As your skill grows, you must continually seek out new challenges to stay in the zone of growth and engagement.

Add Some Weight

There are two ways to shake up a good habit gone soft. The first is to amp up the challenge. Think about lifting weights. As your muscles grow stronger, you need to lift more if you want your muscles to continue to grow.

• Find a book or newspaper with more challenging puzzles.
• Try new scales or songs on your musical instrument.
• Learn new vocabulary words in a language you already know.
• Read a book or watch a show that is slightly higher than your fluency level in a language you already know.

Try Cross-Training

Increasing the difficulty works to build muscles you already have, but for overall brain health and robust cognitive reserve, think cross-training. It’s ok to continue playing the piano or doing crossword puzzles if you enjoy these activities, but alternate your favorite brain-builder with something completely new that challenges you in a very different way.

• Swap a crossword puzzle for sudoku, which relies on logic and numbers instead of words and ideas.
• If you already play the guitar, learn the flute instead of the cello.
• If you’re fluent in Spanish, try Russian or Chinese instead of another Romance language.

The brain’s need for novelty is a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, it means that the task of keeping your brain healthy is never-ending. You can’t just implement a handful of good habits and be done. Instead, you need an ever-changing approach to brain health that continually introduces new activities and new challenges.

However, the brain’s need for novelty has an upside: studies show that people who seek out novel experiences tend to be happier, healthier and more satisfied with their relationships and their lives. The combination of mindful habits and novel experiences can make your mind both rich and resilient.

Want to learn even more? Join our groundbreaking new course, Tiny Habits for Brain Health. This course combines the Tiny Habits method with powerful, practical recipes for keeping your brain sharp now and throughout your life.

Check out other Tiny Habits Academy blog articles today.

Interested in becoming a Tiny Habits Certified Coach? Learn more today at www.tinyhabitsacademy.com/certification.