Small Steps, Big Changes: Mastering the Tiny Habits Principle

There are many areas of life where a health coach may be a valuable guide. We call those areas “health behaviors”, which means all the things you do that have an outcome for your health.

The scope of practice for health coaches covers a relatively broad spectrum of topics, such as physical activity, nutrition, sleep hygiene, stress management, adjusting for living (and thriving) with chronic health conditions, and to some extend, addiction. All these topics are complicated and need different knowledge, but from coaching point of view there is one thing the work with all of those has in common: it’s all about habits. Breaking unhelpful ones and building the ones that serve you well.

Here's the thing: habits are necessary for us. They are shortcuts our brains use to manage the daily task load. Once a habit is built, a specific neural pathway is developed, making it less energy-intensive for the brain compared to doing something new. And living creatures always go for energy preservation whenever possible.

This is one of the reasons why it is really hard to break an old habit: the path is so well-trodden, it’ll take a while for it to disappear. And like it is hard to trample down a new path, it’s hard to build a new habit: our brain keeps sliding back into old tracks.

Here are the things that make replacing an old habit or building a new one easier. 

Begin with the building. Create a path to which to switch first, before trying to destroy the existing one.

For example, you want to switch from eating fast-food to vegetables? Add the veggies first. Get used to them, figure out which ones you like, which are easier to cook, etc. Then start cutting on nuggets.

Break the new habit into tiny steps. They must be truly bite-size and create minimal resistance. Implement them in stages.

Want to begin running? Begin with putting your trainers on and getting out the door as your first goal. When it becomes easy, add some distance. Like half a mile walk. Slow and steady wins the race. Again :)

Celebrate every tiny win!

And if you have tiny goals, you’ll have a lot of celebratory moments, which is always nice and helps with self-efficacy ;)

Here is a great book on habit building, written by BJ Fogg, PhD: Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything

In his book Dr. Fogg recommends an ABC principle for building new behaviors, where 

A - is an anchor - an established behavior that you use to “glue” your new habit to. For example, you have an established routine of brushing teeth before bed, and it can be an anchor for flossing.

B - the behavior. The tiny one. In the book he offers an example of flossing only one tooth. It might seem absurd, but committing to flossing one tooth is actually easier than to the whole jaw in the beginning.

C - celebration. Here you can smile to yourself and acknowledge your win to positively reinforce the new behavior.  

Check out the book, it’s totally worth reading. And if you want to learn more about habit building or struggling with doing so -  comment here or shoot me an email. Let’s figure it out together.

#TamaraTunesIntoWellness #TinyHabits #BehaviorChange