5 Microhabits that will Change your Life
Apr 20, 2022
On the blog this week, I'm sharing a personal story. When I start to feel overwhelmed with all the things running a business entails and requires, I dial into personal microhabits. And you can too!
I have always been a big morning routine fan (regardless of what time you wake up) because I believe it is important that you are in charge of how you start your day. Do something you love (or something you need to do).
With that said, your morning routine is just a small portion of the day. I found that with our new schedule of working full time for ourselves, I need some habits to help me stay on track during the day.
What are microhabits?
If you haven’t heard of micro-habits, they are tiny everyday habits that steer you toward big results. The kind that DO NOT become overwhelming. Because they are small and not time-consuming, they are easy to incorporate into your life. If you've ever made New Year's resolutions, you know how hard it can be to see them through.
Why are habits important?
Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. In the same way money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them. On any given day they seem to make little difference, yet the impact these small habits deliver over the months and years can be enormous.
So I came up with 5 micro-habits that you can implement every day to help you stay motivated (which in turn helps you be more productive). These are tiny activities I try to follow every day.
5 Microhabits to keep you motivated
- Prepare for success the night before. This is so important because you can go to bed feeling calm and know exactly what is waiting for you when you wake up. I use our quarterly planner to plan out my daily 3 (aka my top three tasks to focus on) for the next day every night after dinner. Then I can disconnect during the evening hours before bed and know exactly what to focus on the next day.
- Read 10 minutes a day. Although I will say lately my challenge has been to read 10 pages a day. The reason why I feel this is so important is that:
1) Education is SO important. Almost everything I have learned in my business is through community or education.
2) It keeps me motivated. I would say 90% of the books I read are motivational because let’s face it we all don’t wake up every morning motivated.
3) It’s good for your brain. There is a reason that every personal development guru tells you to read! - Walk outside daily. This is actually a new habit in the Haynes household, but living in Ohio can be rough during the “grey” phases (insert the longest winter ever). I also have a REALLY bad habit of wanting to just keep working all the time. So we implemented a daily walk habit. Even if it is 15 minutes, getting outside does a body good. And it helps you disconnect from being in the weeds of everything.
- Find quiet time. Are you the type of person that gets up and every second of your day is filled? I was too. I found that I actually was more productive when I had a little bit of space to myself. I talk about white space a lot, but I would really encourage you to think about what this looks like on a daily basis. Because my kids are young, this is still the early morning hours for me. Time when you are not on electronics. When you are not reading. Maybe you are journaling or walking or running. The point is it is quiet. And you need this every day. Even if it is just for a few minutes, it instantly recharges you.
- Family time. Last but not least is 30 minutes of family time each day. I say family time but it could be time with your friends, spouse, etc. The goal is to be surrounded by a supportive community once a day. I also like to make sure I hug my kids more, be present without social media, and give my husband some attention when we are not talking about business. This is a super intentional period which honestly is longer than 30 minutes each day but when you combine the other 4 habits with a crazy daily schedule, this seems 110% doable.
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The great thing about micro-habits is they are designed to take minimal effort so that you can follow through with them every day. You can even create categories for your micro-habits if you want to get fancy.
Personal.
Education.
Wealth.
Business.
Pick one micro-habit each day that you can do every day to move the needle in the category.
As an example, for business, my goal is to read 1 business book a month (insert the read 10 pages a day). Some days I read 5 pages for fun and 5 pages for business, but it works. And it is consistent.
Consistency is the secret sauce to everything in my opinion. As Aristotle says - “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
The magic of microhabits is the tiny feeling of accomplishment you get every time you accomplish one of them. Multiply that 5 x a day, 365 days of the year and well you can see where the motivation comes from.
Your homework is to establish 3-5 microhabits that you can do every day to keep you motivated. (P.s. you can track them in our quarterly planner and actually visually see your progress.) You don’t want to pick more than that even though they seem easy because the goal is to actually accomplish them. We want to set ourselves up for success.
So what are your microhabits going to be?
Looking for more on this topic and your High-Level Action items? Check out the Strategy Lab in the Crush the Rush Club!
