This year has been a bit challenging for me to keep a consistent habit of working out. Although I have a Crossfit gym membership, I rarely seemed to be able to make it to class. Likewise, despite having fitness equipment in my basement, I hardly ever use it.

Before the pandemic, the most consistent part of my fitness routine was our Movement for Longevity classes and Friday morning yoga but I really wanted to add some strength training into my routine, as well. I know how important exercise is to my physical and mental health, so I really wanted to get back into a daily routine that included some type of weight resistance as well as stretching or movement.

At first, I came up with a very short series of 3 strength movements to do daily at home (1 pull-up, 1 dip, 5 pushups) plus 5 minutes of mobility (stretching or movement of any kind). Sadly, I only checked off 1 day out of 7. At this point, as I was lamenting my failure, Jim reminded me of the Tiny Habits philosophy of making the goal so small that you can’t miss it. The example often used is “flossing one tooth”.

So, I declared my new goal would be to do 1 pull-up every day. Nope… Jim didn’t accept that. Not tiny enough. (What?!) “Your tiny habit should be just to go into the workout space every day”. I have to admit, I was reluctant at first, but I agreed. Amazingly, it has made all the difference in the world. In the first week, I have done it every single day except 1.

Not only have I gone into the workout space, I’ve done multiple pull-ups, dips, pushups, ring rows, squats or whatever else strikes my fancy. Each time, it has only taken 5-20 minute of my time, but nearly every time I go there, I end up doing extra and I feel great about it. Knowing that my goal is just to go down to the space, makes it super small and achievable. Anything else I do is a bonus and I have the freedom to do whatever I feel like at the time.

My mindset has gone from…”I need to fit in a workout” to “I just need to go down to the workout space and while I’m here, I’ll just do a pull-up.” This means, if I get to the end of the day and I haven’t done it, I know I can just take 5 minutes and still accomplish my goal. I put a little check-list on our whiteboard on the fridge, so I can see that I checked off my goal each day.

I think I resisted making the habit so tiny at first because I felt like I should be able to handle more, but I’m glad Jim insisted as the shift in mindset has been amazing. Even coaches need coaching sometimes!

What could you change by using a tiny habits approach?