One of the secrets of making changes that stick, is starting so small that you don’t wake up the Chicken Little part of your brain. You’re setting yourself up for success, because even the tiniest of successes are encouraging (and multiply).
Yes I know, there’s also the hard part of starting small.
You want to make a change now dammit!
And that tiny step is still So. Far. Away. from what it is you really want.
I’m asking you to trust me on this.
At a minimum, you’ll get at least that tiny step closer (which you aren’t doing now) and, the much more likely scenario, it’s just the first step to getting what you really want.
And that’s the idea behind Happy Changes. A list of tiny changes you can experiment with over the next week. And beyond.
Choose one of these things, one that feels completely and utterly doable to you, even if you aren’t sure it will make a difference, and play with it this week. Let me know how it goes here, in the comments, on twitter (using the hashtag #happychanges) or Facebook.
Happy Habits
The idea of Happy Changes is to look with curiosity at different areas of your life, and notice how you can make teeny tiny little changes, to play with things. Making these tiny little changes can help you create new habits. Habits that support you and help you live life the way you want to.
This past week, I really experienced how helpful it is to have strong habits and routines when you need to be on autopilot. I also noticed there are some areas where I could use another habit or two. So this week, rather than talking about a specific area of your life, such as writing or sleep, I want to explore more general ideas around habit-making.
Give it a try
As always, choose some small way to play with this for a week or two. Remember, no expectations, other than to be curious and have fun with it!
Rather than the standard Happy Changes format, I’m dividing this into a couple of different parts to help you play with happy habit-making.
Think of this as a Happy Habits recipe or formula. Choose one from the first section, one from the second, and so on.
To start, choose an area of your life where a new habit could be helpful to you. It could be:
- Something you’ve been wanting to do for some time, but never seem to get around to it.
- A time of day or situation where you often feel a little scattered or disorganized.
- If nothing comes to mind, check out past Happy Change posts for inspiration.
Once you have the area you want to explore, figure out a tiny step. Here are some ideas to help you:
- What’s some tiny thing that would help you get in the mindset to do the thing you want to make a habit?
- What’s the thing you need to do before you’re able to do the activity you want to make a habit?
- What’s the absolutely smallest thing you can do that would count as the thing you want to make a habit?
Now that you have a tiny step, explore other things you can do to create the habit with ease:
- Is there a time of day that makes more sense to do this, than another?
- Is there something you’re already doing you can attach this to?
- Is there a way to make it more fun?
- What can you do to help you remember your new habit?
Remember, keep it small and ridiculously doable.
I’d love to hear how it goes, either here in the comments, on twitter (using the hashtag #happychanges) or on the Perception Studios Facebook page.
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Check out all the past Happy Changes.
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