So when Markman says to "seek out a friend and have a fun conversation," he's telling you to
restore your willpower with a brain reward. Then you'll stand a better chance against that
chocolate cheesecake (hey, I said better chance).Willpower is commonly associated with avoiding
bad habits like this, but we also use willpower to force ourselves to do good things, so rewards
will help us stick with our good mini habits by encouraging further behavior and restoring our
willpower.
Step 5: Write Everything Down
Writing something down instantly elevates it above all of your other thoughts. One study found
that all thoughts (positive or negative) held greater prominence in the mind when written down
on paper.The same impact has not been found for typing.You've got to hand write it to
amplify it.
Here are some strategies for tracking your progress. In whatever strategy you choose, I recommend
that you check off your success before you go to sleep. If you check off your task early in the
day,the sense of completion might make you feel less motivated to do "bonus reps."Also, it's a
good habit to check it off before bed so that you don't forget.
The Big Calendar (Recommended)
This is the strategy I use for tracking my mini habits. I use a large desk calendar on the wall
in my room. I write my mini habits on a nearby dry erase board, and check off every day on the
calendar that I complete them (which is EVERY day,except for the gym, which is 3x a week).In the
lower left corner of my day boxes,I'll note when I go to the gym. Then,in the upper right hand
corner of Saturday's box (last day of the week), I draw a small tick mark. That way I can look at
that corner and instantly see how many times I've been to the gym this week (or previous weeks).
It's simple and it works great. Checking off a successful day still feels great after months of
mini habits!