From Aspiration to Tiny Habit: The Steps to Get You to Reach Your Goal
I’ve spent some time writing about the power of tiny habits and why they are so crucial to help you reach your goals. Now I’d like to outline a step-by-step framework for going from an aspirational goal to selecting and creating a tiny habit to help you reach your goal. These steps are from one of my favorite books on habit formation, Tiny Habits by Stanford University researcher BJ Fogg.
Fogg writes that the first step in creating a habit is to Clarify the Aspiration. For instance, if you have a goal to lose weight, first create a SMART goal by getting crystal clear on what you hope to achieve. Maybe this is lose 15 pounds in 3 months, or lose 1.25 pounds a week.
Step 2 is then to Explore the Behavior Options. In this step you should brainstorm all the behaviors that will help you reach this aspirational goal. Maybe it’s creating an exercise habit, maybe it’s increasing your vegetable intake, maybe it’s increasing the number of hours of sleep each night. This is a brainstorm on all the things you could do on a daily basis to help you reach your goal.
Step 3 is then Match the Specific Behaviors. This means to select one specific behavior on your list of options and get crystal clear on the behavior you want to start doing. Maybe this means eat more vegetables to improve your diet by getting more vitamin and protein rich foods that are low in calories and fill you up at meals.
Step 4 is to Start Tiny. As I have written in previous blog posts, this means to truly start small and build your habit over time. If you want to increase your vegetable intake, the goal would be to start small and eat more vegetable a day than you normally do. Maybe that’s going from 2 servings a day to 3, with a goal to increase your vegetable intake over the course of 3 months. You could do this with a tiny habit of buying more vegetables at the grocery store and a tiny habit of preparing more vegetables when cooking your dinner each night. The goal is to start so small that it is nearly impossible to not be able to achieve this new habit.
Step 5 is to Find a Good Prompt. A prompt is a cue in your environment that triggers the brain to realize it’s time to start the habit. Good prompts from the environment are typically found through existing habits or based on date/time or a specific location. To increase your vegetable intake from 2 servings to 3, the prompt might be that as I enter the grocery store to do my food shopping I start in the produce aisle and pick out 3 vegetables to eat that week. Of course, you’d also need a prompt when cooking to make sure you actually prepare and eat those vegetables you bought, so an additional prompt could be when the clock hits 6pm (or whenever you begin cooking for dinner), I reach in the frig and begin washing and cutting up my vegetables for dinner. Therefore, there are 2 tiny habit prompts based on the aspiration to lose weight and do this by eating more vegetables.
Step 6 is to Celebrate Successes. This is a crucial step never to skip because the positive feeling generated by celebrating a successful habit performed reinforces in the mind that this is something that should be done again and helps make it habitual and automatic. You can do this by smiling to yourself, high fiving the air, patting yourself on the back, or whatever else will create a true sensation of feeling good in the moment. Never skip this step - it works!
The final step is to Troubleshoot, Iterate, and Expand. You will need to be gentle on yourself because habit formation takes time and perhaps the prompt or celebration isn’t the exact best option and adjustments may need to be made. Maybe the prompts to execute would be when writing your grocery list before heading to the grocery store or food prepping your veggies after grocery shopping so they are cleaned and chopped right after you buy you groceries for the week. Just know this process can take a little time, but if you follow these steps you’ll be well on your way to reach your goals!
If you’re ready to discuss your aspirational goals and get some advice on how to create new positive habits in your life, please don’t hesitate to schedule your first coaching call. Click here to sign up for a session today.
Liz Bapasola, Ed.D. is a Life Coach for Liz Bapasola & Associates, LLC. She writes often about the power of habits, mindset, and strategies for reaching your goals. She can be reached at liz@lizbapasola.com.