Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything(64)

I realize that this is a new way of thinking about habits—that behavior change is a skill—but this should give you the confidence that you can change by learning skills in the same way you learned to ride a bike, swim, or use a computer. You might flail around a little at first, but if you keep going, you’ll get there.

Some of your tiny changes will grow; others will multiply. Along the way, as you feel successful, your identity will shift. And this is how you will go from tiny to transformative.

My prediction: You will succeed faster than you expect.



Skills of Change





EXERCISE #1: LEARN FROM SKILLS YOU’VE ALREADY MASTERED


In this exercise I want you to connect how you learned other skills to learning the Skills of Change.



Step 1: List at least five skills you’ve learned—i.e., driving a car, speaking French, or using Photoshop.



Step 2: Jot down what you did in order to learn those skills—i.e., hired a teacher, started with easy things, and practiced every day. (I suggest you spend at least five minutes thinking about this and making notes.)



Step 3: Look over your notes and think about using those same techniques for learning the Skills of Change.





EXERCISE #2: PRACTICE A BEHAVIOR CRAFTING SKILL


One skill in Behavior Crafting is knowing how many habits to do at once. That’s what you’ll explore in this exercise. You’ll try to create six habits at once as a way to discover your capacity for creating multiple habits at a time.



Step 1: Create six recipes for new habits using what you’ve learned so far in this book. You can also get inspiration from the appendix “Three Hundred Recipes for Tiny Habits.”



Step 2: Write each recipe on an index card or use my template found at TinyHabits.com/recipecards.





Step 3: For each recipe, make sure the behavior is tiny. If it’s not tiny enough, then scale it back.



Step 4: For each recipe, make sure the Anchor is specific. Bonus: Identify the Trailing Edge of each Anchor.



Step 5: Practice these six new habits for one week, revising and rehearsing as needed. (If you don’t like a new habit, discard it and add something else.)



Step 6: After a week, reflect on what you’ve learned about yourself and the Tiny Habits method. As you move forward, keep the new habits you like most, and let the others fade.



To do well on this exercise, you’ll need to redesign your environment and rehearse, which are the focus of the next two exercises.





EXERCISE #3: PRACTICE A CONTEXT SKILL


In this exercise, you will practice the Context Skill of redesigning your environment to support the change you want in your life.



Step 1: Look at each new habit recipe from the Behavior Crafting exercise.



Step 2: For each habit, find ways to redesign your environment so that each one is easier to do.





EXERCISE #4: PRACTICE A PROCESS SKILL


One important Process Skill is rehearsing your new habits and celebrating each time. Here is an exercise for doing that.



Step 1: Look at the six recipes you’ve created for Tiny Habits.



Step 2: For each one, do the Anchor behavior and the new habit.



Step 3: Celebrate as you do the new habit or immediately afterward.



Step 4: Repeat this behavior sequence seven to ten times.



Step 5: Try not to feel too strange doing the habit rehearsal. Remember how top performances in sports, business presentations, and more comes from practice. And that’s how you get top performance in behavior change.





EXERCISE #5: PRACTICE A MINDSET SKILL


One important Mindset Skill is being okay with doing only the tiny behavior. It’s okay to floss only one tooth or do only two push-ups. Here’s an exercise that will help you get comfortable with this concept.



Step 1: Pick any new habit you are doing regularly. (If you don’t have one, then select flossing your teeth.)



Step 2: When you do the new habit next time, do only the tiniest version on purpose. Resist the temptation to do more.



Step 3: Congratulate yourself for deliberately keeping it tiny and feeling okay with that.



Step 4: Repeat this for at least three days in order to develop a mindset that even the tiniest of changes is good. (You want to feel good about underperforming on the size of a habit because that is how you overachieve in doing habits consistently.)





EXERCISE #6: PRACTICE A SELF-INSIGHT SKILL


One important Self-Insight Skill is finding the smallest changes in your life that will have the biggest meaning. I believe this exercise is the toughest one I’ve suggested, and that’s why I saved it for last.



Step 1: List an area of life that really matters to you, such as being a good mom or showing compassion.



Step 2: Spend three minutes thinking about the simplest one-time behaviors you could do that would have significant meaning in that area. Make a list.



Step 3: Repeat step 2, but this time consider the tiniest new habits that would have the most significance to you in that area. Make a list.