Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything(26)

I will . . .

To wire the habit into my brain, I will immediately:



brush my teeth,





floss one tooth.





That’s it.

Despite how silly this might seem, it worked. For the first few days I flossed only one tooth just to keep things simple. But I made a rule: I got extra credit for flossing more teeth even though one tooth was all I had to do. After about two weeks, I was flossing all my teeth twice a day. I’ve been doing that ever since.

Once I figured out my plan of action, regularly flossing my teeth was easy. But there is an underlying and beautiful complexity that made this all possible. I got to my solution by making flossing my teeth ridiculously easy to do, but first I had to understand what makes something hard to do. That’s why you should always start with this question: What is making this behavior hard to do?

What I’ve found in my research and years of experience is that your answer will involve at least one of five factors. I call them the Ability Factors. Here’s how they break down.

Do you have enough time to do the behavior?



Do you have enough money to do the behavior?



Are you physically capable of doing the behavior?



Does the behavior require a lot of creative or mental energy?



Does the behavior fit into your current routine or does it require you to make adjustments?





Your Ability Chain is only as strong as its weakest Ability Factor link.





By asking what I call the Discovery Question, What is making this behavior hard to do? we are lasering in on which factor is likely to cause us the most trouble. And when I say “hard to do,” keep in mind that I don’t just mean very hard. I mean any amount of hard to do that would keep you from doing the behavior.

You’ll see what I mean with this next example.

Let’s take a look at the habit of doing a seven-minute workout—something that most people would say sounds easy. But is it? Let’s break things down by using the Ability Chain. Time is probably the strongest link; seven minutes is easy for most people to fit into their day. At least it is when compared to the expectation that one should exercise thirty minutes a day. Money? You can do this in your own home so this behavior is free. Physical effort? Aha. Here we go. For some people, doing a seven-minute workout sounds easy. However, most apps for this workout urge you to push yourself as you cycle through the exercises. And that’s not easy. So for people who follow directions, the physical-effort link is probably weak. That alone could be enough to derail your efforts at making the seven-minute workout a habit.

Which brings me back to my tiny flossing behavior.

Flossing takes only a few seconds (time). It cost almost nothing (money). I already knew how to do it (mental effort). It slotted nicely into my life (routine). So those factors were all strong links. But when I thought about the physical-effort factor, I was surprised.

Flossing was hard to do physically.

This may sound strange because flossing isn’t like digging a ditch or lifting up a car, but for me, it was hard enough to derail my habit. The important overshare here is that flossing is hard for me because my teeth are very close together. My hygienist calls this phenomenon “close contacts,” which means that it is a struggle for me to get the floss between my teeth. I have to wrestle with the floss to get it in there, then I feel like I am pulling my tooth out to wrestle it back out again. Then the floss would shred and get stuck, and I’d have to start again with a new piece. This wobbly little link in my Ability Chain was weak enough for me to blow off flossing for months at a time. The behavior was just hard enough and my motivation just weak enough that flossing was never going to become a habit the way I was doing it.

So what did I do to make flossing easy to do? I searched for floss that would fit between my teeth. After buying and sampling about fifteen types, I found the perfect floss for me.

Almost everyone I meet has habits like this that elude them. Think about all the things you don’t do for your health, your productivity, and your sanity that you want to do. So why can’t you?

You can—with the right approach.

Ask the Discovery Question and identify the weak links in your Ability Chain. Then zero in on the right problem to solve. This is what makes the Ability Chain such a transformative tool. It allows you to shift into action without confusion, irritation, or exasperation. When it came to my flossing transformation, I didn’t blame myself for lacking motivation to floss. Instead, I set out to make it easier to do by starting with one tooth and using thinner floss. Once I had shored up that Ability Factor, I did the behavior repeatedly. I cultivated a habit that I had been chasing for years. Once I had taken the first step, it felt easy to do the rest. I already had my hands in my mouth, right? Plus, the more I did it, the more skilled I became. This feeling of success motivated me to floss again the next day.

By keeping the behavior tiny, I helped this habit root itself into my routine. Here’s how to think about it: Imagine a big plant with small roots. When a powerful wind kicks up, the big plant might topple over because it’s not held firmly in place. And that’s how habit formation works. If you start with a big behavior that’s hard to do, the design is unstable; it’s like a large plant with shallow roots. When a storm comes into your life, your big habit is at risk. However, a habit that is easy to do can weather a storm like flexible sprouts, and it can then grow deeper and stronger roots.