Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results (Volume 1)
About the Book
Lasting Change For Early Quitters, Burnouts, The Unmotivated, And Everyone Else Too
When I decided to start exercising consistently 10 years ago, this is what actually happened:
I tried "getting motivated." It worked sometimes.
I tried setting audacious big goals. I almost always failed them.
I tried to make changes last. They didn't.
Like most people who try to change and fail, I assumed that I was the problem.
Then one afternoon--after another failed attempt to get motivated to exercise--I (accidentally) started my first mini habit. I initially committed to do one push-up, and it turned into a full workout. I was shocked. This "stupid idea" wasn't supposed to work. I was shocked again when my success with this strategy continued for months (and to this day). I had to consider that maybe I wasn't the problem in those 10 years of mediocre results. Maybe it was my prior strategies that were ineffective, despite being oft-repeated as "the way to change" in countless books and blogs.
About the Author
On December 28, 2012, Stephen Guise started doing at least one push-up every day. It was his first mini habit. Two years later, Stephen's mini habits have him in peak physical condition, writing 4x as many words, and reading 10x more books.
About the Reviews
141 days ago my BFF recommended that I read Mini Habits. We are both self-help book junkies, and call each other saying "Girl this book will change your life." But it never does until Mini Habits. I picked 5 mini habits: meditate for 20 minutes daily, one yoga pose per day, draw one line per day, write 50 words, swim 400 meters and read 2 pages per day. I have alway wanted to be an artist and writer. I understood that it takes practice. Now, after 141 days I have the integrity to call myself an artist, visual storyteller and writer. I've also kept up with the other mini habits too. Mini habits allow you to gradually become the person you want to be and to back your passion with everyday discipline. This book CHANGED MY LIFE. I wrote a blog post on my blog hollinscreativesolutions. Read the book, take silly, tiny steps and CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
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I chose 5 stars because the premise of this book gives me hope that I can change my lazy, procrastinating ways and seriously improve my life, one teeny tiny minihabit at a time!
I purchased this book on January 4, 2014 and already have three minihabits in place. The book was written in a way that made it easy to comprehend and I finished in a day or two. Now I meet my minihabit requirement every day (1 push up, 5 strokes brushing my dog, read 2 pages of a book), but I usually surpass the requirements because they're so ridiculously simple, I'm doing more without even thinking about it, BUT I DON'T HAVE TO! That's the key! The habit of "taking that required action" every day is getting established. And it gets easier and easier as my mind is being "trained" in this direction. I'm also discovering that I'm more likely to do a "non scheduled" chore by suggesting to myself that I only have to do it for one minute.. and sure enough, I'm up and at it and usually end up completing the whole thing because I didn't go into it feeling the pressure I HAD to finish. I'm excited to see my life changing right before my eyes.
I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to improve the quality of his/her life. Great job Stephen!
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Describing this book as life changing is not hyperbole. The idea to set extremely low goals runs counter to intuition - two pages of a classic book, meaningless; one push up; meaningless. It's not how we train for anything, in sports or in school. However, he explains how the brain works and it makes sense. The goals are too high. Effort is what matters.
This is, literally, an essential book. The affirming feeling of accomplishing minimal goals is not to be underestimated for long-term success and there are important concepts that he touches on in this book that can be riffed on in many areas of life even beyond goal accomplishment.
Product Info
Paperback: 126 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (December 22, 2013)
Language: English
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars 872 customer reviews