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!