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Yesterday was a good day. I ended up walking 1.1 (one point ONE) miles - up from 1 mile the day before. It's not hard at all to get up and walk for 200 steps whenever my 1/2 hour timer goes off. It only takes THREE minutes, and it is 1/10th of a mile. So stoked that I found an EASY way to become more active. The habit is not to walk every day. The mini-habit is ONLY to put on my walking shoes. Anything else is a bonus.
The idea from the two books I've been reading is to make your mini-habit SO EASY that you can do it on the worst day of your life. Then, you can do BONUS things if you want to, but you don't "have" to do anything else. The most recent author suggests only starting with a maximum of FOUR mini-habits. Here are mine:
1. Put Four (8-oz) Bottles of Water by My Chair.
2. Put on My Walking Shoes.
3. Stand up From Sitting After 1/2 Hour (ONCE)
4. Eat ONE Serving of Fruit or Vegetable Daily.
The mini-habits are not the "goal." The ultimate goals are (1) become solely a water-drinker; (2) become physically fit and lose weight; (3) also become physically fit and lose weight; and (4) become a healthy eater and lose weight.
Each of my mini-habits has several "Bonuses" that I can do IF I want to (which I HAVE since I made them). For instance, #1's "system" to reach my goal is (1) MANDATORY: Put Four Bottles of Water By My Chair; all the rest are optional bonuses: (2) Drink one 8-oz bottle of water; (3) drink 4 bottles of water before 10am; (4) drink 4 bottles of water between 10am and 2pm, (5) drink "less" Diet Coke; (6) Limit DC to 2 liters (yes, I'm drinking about THREE now); (7) limit DC to 1 liter a day; (8) Limit DC to 20-oz bottle a day; (9) Limit DC to one 12-oz can a day; (10) drink ONLY water. This is my most involved system - all the others have many fewer steps. For now, I'm completing #'s 1-4 each day, and I'm working on #5. Result for yesterday: I drank 8 cups of water (64 ounces).
Hope some of what I'm learning will strike a chord with someone else, and be a benefit to you on your journey. The mini-habits are designed to establish lifelong behaviors like healthy eating, being physically fit, drinking water. The key is to make the "gateway goal" (the ridiculously easy ones, like putting on my shoes) so easy that I'll continue to do them forever. Why wouldn't I? It takes less than five minutes combined for me to do them all!
Have a blessed day - I'm choosing to get up and do my 200 steps!
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