The other day I was listening to a podcast with a man who says he does 2 push-ups every time he visits the bathroom.

 

Now, even though this sounds a little weird, because I wouldn’t recommend doing push-ups IN the bathroom (maybe right outside the bathroom 😁) … the basic info was solid.

 

It was all about making realistic changes in your lifestyle to support your goals.

 

The man – BJ Fogg – is actually a Stanford behavioural scientist who studies how people create routines and change habits.

 

He used his 2 push-up habit to kick start another “tiny” but healthy change in his life.

 

And do you know what happened?! They all added up to a 10+kg weight loss in just a few months.

 

He wrote a book about it called Tiny Habits. He also came up with a formula that outlines how to make these changes so they become automatic, so you don’t even have to really think about them:

 

"Behaviour (B) happens when Motivation (M), Ability (A), and a Prompt (P) come together at the same time."

 

This basically means that to make a lasting behaviour change (habit), you need to piece 3 things:

 

Motivation – You have to WANT to make a change. If you think you SHOULD make a change but you aren’t really into it, it won’t stick.

 

(REALITY CHECK: sometimes you have to give a new habit a try before you decide whether it’s for you or not. Once you start feeling the results, you’ll start to want to make the change.)

 

Prompt – This is a reminder to do the behaviour. It could be something like going to the bathroom or opening the refrigerator door, or setting a timer or alarm on your phone.

Or, your reminder could be a reward … if you want to check your phone, you need to do 5 squats first.

 

Ability – Not only you should be physically able to do the behaviour, but also have the time and space to do it. Doing those 5 squats takes a lot less time and is much easier than running 1k!

 

Over time, this formula adds up to habits (and results) that can stick for a lifetime.

 

One of the things I really like about this approach is that it's super achievable.

 

He set the bar low – rather than making himself do 10 push-ups, he just did 2.

 

Then he built it up from there, adding or changing a few behaviours as they occurred to him, eventually creating dozens of reflexive changes in his daily life! Awesome right?!

 

As I mentioned earlier, I know a lot of us are working to get back into our healthy habits after the wild ride 2020 has given us so far – what is 1 behaviour you can add starting today?

 

 

Make it an amazing day,

Marty Skele