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Mini Habits – Doing Less to Achieve More

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Dream big.

That’s the concept flooding social media lately. Yet, there seems to be a gap between the dreaming and the achieving. It starts with high hopes that are often followed by fear and for good reason; the person you are today couldn’t do the thing you hope to do.

Accomplishing big dreams requires change and growth. Ick, that sounds hard.

Hard is when we get tangled in old familiar stories  “I tried before and failed” or “It’s never worked in the past”.

What if you tried a different approach this time…instead of making drastic changes, start with small almost imperceptible changes?

The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which,
a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of.
– C. S. Lewis
Using mini habits to achieve big goals with less stress - great tips for fitness and business

Why Mini Habits?

I love this statement by Stephen Guise:

The reason people fail to change their lives, and fail to instill new habits, is because they try to do too much at once. In simplest terms, if your new habit requires more willpower than you can muster, you will fail. If your new habit requires less willpower than you can muster, you will succeed. (Tweet this) 

Habits are an automatic reaction to a cue, signaling the mind to undertake a learned routine.

Tapping in to this automatic signaling allows you to change the way you eat or commit to exercise with ease, rather than fighting the process. It allows for maintaining those changes long after friends have fallen off the wagon.

The benefit of the mini habit is this:

  • Provides quick wins, which creates motivation to see more progress
  • Easy enough that you won’t talk yourself out of it
  • Allows you to accomplish something that feels productive
  • Develops a base on which you can continue to build other habits

Everything is simple

Mini Habit Ideas

Not sure where to start with mini habits to reach your healthy eating or fitness goals?

Here are a few ideas:

  • Narrow your focus from “getting healthy” to I will eat 1 piece of fruit before my afternoon meeting.
  • Narrow your focus from “getting fit” to doing 1 push up when you get out of bed.
  • Walk for 10 minutes each day when you get home
  • Do 5 sun salutations each morning when you get up
  • Add carrots to whatever your breakfast might be
  • Drink a glass of water after finishing your morning report
Everything is simple, very little is easy. Using mini habits to make big changes #motivation Click To Tweet

Mini habits provide a way to avoid the “this is hard” mentality.

Running 10 miles is hard, but putting on my shoes is doable.
Eating only salad for the rest of my life is hard, but eating an apple in the afternoon is doable.

I’ve shared this chart before, but I love it so you can enjoy it again!Charles Duhigg How to Create a Habit

The idea is that as you incorporate one of these small changes, it suddenly turns in to a habit. Then you’re no longer deciding whether to take a walk at lunch, you simply doing it. As you free up your mind from that decision, you can implement another little change like closing your Facebook stream for an hour each morning!

Soon not checking in because just as much a habit as your previous need to flee your work with a little mind numbing scrolling.

Change shouldn’t be hard. It rarely sticks that way. Make it easy. Make it small.

Resources for more on small changes:
Charles Duhiggs The Power of Habit
The 2-degree Difference: How Little Things Change Everything
Designing for Behavior ChangeMini Habits book

What mini habit started this week would move towards your goal?

What is a cue you could use today to start changing an old habit?
I’d love to hear your thoughts, share them in the comments below!

Other ways to connect with Amanda
Thanks to everyone who DELURKED last Friday {please do if you haven’t!}

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Posted by amanda Categories: habits, Healthy lifestyle

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About Amanda Brooks

Amanda Brooks is a Certified Running Coach, Certified Personal Trainer and long time distance runner with a passion for every facet of running, which leads her to do more reading, research and running than necessary. Find all the tips, tricks and tools you need from this running coach for your best injury free running. Read More…

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runtothefinish

Amanda Brooks : Run Coach
SHARE THE ONE that resonates most with you. 🏃‍♀️🏃🏾🏃🏽‍♂️
 
It’s true, I’ll never stop talking about the warm up 😂. But right now the idea that running is HOPEFUL really strikes a chord.💜
 
We show up mile after mile always looking to what’s ahead and what’s possible.
 
Which one hits home for you?
.
.
.
#runningmotivation #runninginspiration #medalmonday #fitnessmemes #runningmemes #runningquotes #runnerslife #runnerlife
AVOID HITTING THE WALL (save this and review befor AVOID HITTING THE WALL (save this and review before races) -AKA  Bonking. UK friends giggle at that, but it’s a term just like fartlek.
.
It’s that painful moment when your mind tells your legs to stop and it feels like there’s nothing you can do to turn the tides. It leaves emotional scars!🥵
 
WHAT TO DO!
1️⃣Train differently - seems obvious, but consistent training that follows a plan which progressively and smartly builds your miles and strength and speed...ya it works.
 
2️⃣Fuel, fuel, fuel - force yourself to eat before races and long runs even if not hungry.
.
Starting fueling sooner than you think you need to and keep doing it. During races your body is running on more carbs and needs that steady flow of energy. 
.
🧠 Your brain functions on CARBS, stop depriving it or it will tell you to stop running. If food while running is an issue for you, checkout something like @genucan.
 
3️⃣Pacing - Stop going out too fast because you’re excited, it absolutely catches up to you. Ideal is even pacing start to finish.
 
4️⃣Pay attention to your brain. @fitzgerald.matt in How Bad Do You Want it does a great job of showing how the brain can limit performance if you don’t know what’s happening up there.
 
5️⃣Recover better - Stop over training and give your body tools to help it destress from all the work...the best one is SLEEP. I also love @resiliencecbd to help with nerves prior to a race and quality sleep during training.
 
❓❓Helpful?? Have more race day questions?? Or an epic story of hitting the wall?? I wanna know.❓❓
.
.
.
Thanks to @moxie82co for capturing this weird moment, it worked great for this post.
HIT THOSE HIPS!!! I’ve given you a couple hip mo HIT THOSE HIPS!!! I’ve given you a couple hip mobility workouts, now we add strength!
//
🥳For the next 30 days in the Virtual Run Club we’ll be going hard on all the pre-hab work for hips, glutes and abs. Because running isn’t just about the miles.
//
That’s one of the reasons I’ve been consistently doing @insidetracker bloodwork since 2015.
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It’s helped me identify low Vitamin D causing fatigue or catch my wayyy high cortisol to embrace easy runs as key part of the process.
📌 (Save this post because the last screen has a 25% off discount code and you can get free access to the 30 Day March Challenge.)
👉LINK IN BIO FOR BOTH
✅✅✅✅
3 CORE MOVES
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You can use these as a progression or do all three, they’ll target the hips, glutes and core in different ways with each variation.
 
Aim for 15 reps prior to a run or do multiple rounds as part of a workout!
 
1️⃣Side Plank Kneeling Hip Raise - Really focus on your core engaging to raise up and keeping your elbow under your shoulder.
 
2️⃣Side Plank Kneeling Leg Raise - Again core should be tight to keep hips lifted, not sagging towards the ground. Then focus on your hip and glute to raise the top leg.
 
3️⃣Straight Leg Side Plank Leg Raise - Engage the core to keep hips high and press the bottom foot in to the ground to really engage your glutes. Slow and steady to remain stable while raising and lowering top leg.
❓❓❓❓
Talk to me!!!
Who’s in for 10 min a day in March?
Who’s gotten blood work to improve their health?
Who’s excited it’s almost spring?
👉👉Me to all 3! And more info in stories!
 
 
 
#runtothefinish #insidetrackerpartner
RUN DAYS ARE THE BEST DAYS😊 I had training tips RUN DAYS ARE THE BEST DAYS😊 I had training tips planned to share today, but really just wanted to say I hope you get in some miles today and they make you smile.
 
Let go of the pace.
Let go of the distance.
Let go of HR for a day.
Just run.
We GET to.
 
Where in the world are you running today?
.
I’ll be embracing one warm day before snow here in Boulder, CO.
EMOJI POLL: Round or no? ⏰ give me whole numbers EMOJI POLL: Round or no?
⏰ give me whole numbers
👍wherever I stop, it stops
🙃I don’t use no stinking watch
||
THAT’S A LIE 😂. I can’t do it. I need the round number and when I get that close to a whole number...I need it!
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Website written, managed and maintained by Amanda Brooks, a certified running coach and personal trainer. Any advice should be taken as general information and not a personalized plan. All opinions, tips and reviews are based upon her personal life experience and the experiences of those she has coached. View our full privacy and review policy.

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