Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything(91)

The most profound transformations you’ve read about in this book are not about discrete habits being formed; they are about essential shifts in experience. From suffering to less suffering. From fear to hope. From being overwhelmed to feeling empowered. These shifts were made because Amy, Juni, Linda, Sarika, Sukumar, Mike, and others decided to embrace feeling good and use it as a lever for greater change. In doing so, they overcame devastating circumstances, cyclical dysfunction, and years of self-criticism. They regained control of their lives and discovered what we all are capable of making—the small changes that change everything.



I’ve created additional materials for you in the appendix. If you want more tools and resources—such as case studies, worksheets, and teaching outlines—you’ll find them at TinyHabits.com/resources.





Acknowledgments


This book became a reality mostly because shortly after my airplane dream Doug Abrams tracked me down, persuaded me to meet for lunch at Stanford, and inspired me to share my work in book form (finally). Giving me invaluable guidance through the writing and publishing proc-ess, Doug was more than a world-class literary agent. He became a true friend and an ongoing inspiration. Thank you, Doug, so very much.

Doug introduced me to Lauren Hamlin, who became my closest collaborator in transforming my research insights and hands-on experience into polished prose on the page. She brought her East Coast toughness to my West Coast optimism, and together we created this thing—a book—that exceeded my expectations. Working with Lauren was a delight. During our time together, I know she made personal sacrifices to get these ideas into your hands, and—I hope—into your hearts and minds. Lauren, the words “thank you” are simply not adequate to express how much I appreciate what you’ve done for me.

My sincere thanks to Lara Love for helping me make the commitment to this book and for providing guidance at critical moments. I also very much appreciate the careful work of Katherine Vaz, who scrutinized every word, every idea, and every transition in this book. I admire your charm when you needed to give me bad news, and your dedication to helping me communicate each idea better.

I will be forever grateful to the entire publishing team at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, especially Bruce Nichols. Thank you for your confidence in my work and your passion to bring my insights about human behavior to a wide audience. Working with you and your team has been fun and uplifting.

I’d also like to thank all the editors and publishers who are bringing the book to a global market: Joel Rickett at Ebury for his editorial insights; Caspian Dennis, Sandy Violette, and the team at Abner Stein; Camilla Ferrier, Jemma McDonagh, and the team at the Marsh Agency.

Long before I dove into creating this book, people helped me move my work forward. I give thanks to my long-time collaborator and friend, Tanna Drapkin. As we worked together at Stanford and elsewhere for many years, Tanna has provided strengths in areas where I was weak and energy when I was tapped out. No one has supported my work longer or more thoroughly than Tanna.

Others at Stanford University stepped up over the years to champion my research, teaching, and innovation. Many people inspired me and opened opportunities along the way, including Byron Reeves, Terry Winograd, Roy Pea, Keith Devlin, Martha Russell, Phil Zimbardo, and the late Cliff Nass. I’m also grateful to others at Stanford who helped me in ways they may not even realize, including Jennifer Aaker, John Perry, Tom Robinson, Bill Verplank, Tina Seelig, and David Kelley.

When I first shared Tiny Habits with the world in 2011 by posting a simple invitation on social media, I had no idea this would become a huge part of my professional and personal life. I am grateful to early supporters and champions of the Tiny Habits method, notably Liz Guthridge and Linda Fogg-Phillips. There are more people—thousands, in fact—who joined my program and gave feedback and insight. People all over the world have contributed to what you find in this book.

A special thanks to people who shared their stories with me during the writing process. Some of those stories are in this book, and some are not. In either case, your experiences and insights made this book better—and fun to write. My gratitude goes out to Mike Coulter, Emily E., Mallory Erickson, Juni Felix, Linda Fogg-Phillips, TJ Jones, David Kirchhoff, Shirisha N., Margarita Quihuis, Sukumar Rajagopal, and Amy Vest. In addition, I thank others who shared real-life stories and examples with me, including TJ Agulto, Kevin Ascher, Ginger Collins, Roller Derby Renee Schieferstein, Joe Dimilia, Mark Garibaldi, Jonny Goldstein, Kate Hand, Brittany Herlean, Manjula Higginbotham, Maya Hope, Roger Hurni, Judhajit “JD” De, Brendan Kane, Erin Kelly, Ellen Khalifa, Glen Lubbert, Kevin McAlear, Jasmine Morales, Gemma Moroney, Barry O’Reilly, Steve Peterschmidt, Mary Piontkowski, Shirley Rivera, Ramit Sethi, Wingee Sin, Michael Stawicki, Khadija Tahera, Renee Townley, Michael Walter, and Bert Whitaker.

I want to express my deep gratitude to my colleague Stephanie Weldy, who assisted me on most every emergency and every nonemergency in the writing process. She cleared the path for me almost on a daily basis. She oversaw the interviews—real people, true stories—and she helped shape the texture and tone of this book.

The experts I’ve trained in the Tiny Habits method have moved this book forward in ways that are too numerous to list. If you’re a Certified Coach in Tiny Habits, I thank you for investing time in my methods and for your efforts in making this book better for everyone. I’m sure I’ll miss naming some of the most influential coaches (sorry), but here are a few who really stepped up (and who come to mind as I write this): Amy Vest, Juni Felix, Linda Fogg-Phillips, Edith Asibey, Joshua Bornstein, Kristiana Burke, Mike Coulter, Judhajit “JD” De, Charlie Garland, Jonny Goldstein, Kate Hand, Katherine Hickman, Manjula Higginbotham, Joshua Hollingsworth, Jason Koprowski, Shelley Lloyd-Hankinson, Martin Mark, Ruby Menon, Shirley Rivera, Christine Silvestri, Dave Spencer, Deb Teplow, Erwin Valencia, Stephanie Weldy, Michelle Winders, and Misako Yok.