Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results

I’m a chronic procrastinator. I’m consistently pinned to my chair, half laying in it and mumbling about not being able to do anything. If I even think about doing something I really want to do, I have a difficult time raising just my hand. I’m an expert at not doing anything, and wasting time. I always thought big, too big. Even other time wasters were difficult to do, like playing games or watching tv shows. In a way, life was a cage where all the fun stuff I want to do was just outside my hand’s reach.Mini habits gave me the key to unlock that cage.I started simple, 1 push up a day. 1 minute walking outside. Read 1 page a day. 24 days have passed since I’ve started (I read the blog first of all, that’s how I’ve learnt the concept). Everyday a success.My 1 push up is still growing, but I’ve consistently do bonus reps. My “read 1 page a day” has resulted in completing 7 books in roughly 3 weeks. My 1 minute walk outside changed into me conquering my fear of darkness which has been with me my entire life. I go out twice now for two walks, and I run back from them. Once when it’s still light and once in the dark. My fear of dark has completely gone, I feel like I’m a completely different person now. I’m proud of my self. And all this from just walking outside for 1 minute.Mini habits will teach you what you need to know to get along with your brain, and leverage the power of habits. It’ll tell you how to get there step by step. Understanding is key here, because it’s easy to make a blunder, like increasing your requirements when they should stay “stupid small”. The book has everything you need. It’ll give you the science, and help you along your first steps. Once you know what you’re doing, you’ll have no trouble growing on your own.Like they say: Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.This book will teach you how to fish.

I am practically a professional pessimist, however, I am also highly disciplined, hard worker, taking on new tasks, learning new skills, assuming more responsibilities, always pushing myself, self critical…etc. About half way through this book I realized I was feeling a little high. Now I am not really experienced with feeling high, half a bottle of champagne is about it, drunk slowly with food it is great. But I do not know how else to describe what I was feeling. I was the “throw away kid” in the family. Everybody entertained themselves by talking about what a failure and disappointment I was, constantly from when I was tiny until I broke free of them. Perhaps I owe my current strengths to them, but then they are also responsible for my perpetual pessimism and dissatisfaction with myself. There are so many people out there who experienced sad childhoods, (Many much worse than mine!), I think this should be part of the grade school curriculum, and middle school, and high school, and on and on. Because isn’t a sad childhood very like the chocolate/radish experiment. You see all the lovely things that others receive (kindness, forgiveness, school clothes, birthday parties, etc.), and you do not, for no particular reason, and nothing you can do is going to change that…and you end up with serious ego-depletion. I think this concept is immensely important, for teaching and parenting. And especially for kids themselves. This is not a tricky concept. Growing will power through consistent small successes, creating an ego that expects success…. Nope not tricky. This is a method for healing squashed egos. It is all well and good to celebrate the quick learners, but how about the consistent workers too? If I still had a child in school, I would make for sure that his teacher had a copy of this book, and knew I expected him to read it. I would talk about it at the PTA, if there is still such a thing. Stupid Small efforts that I really think will have HUGE consequences for our kids. I do not see a downside, do you? Happy Trails to You, Seamstress

I had signed up for the author’s blog a few weeks prior to this book release, so I kind of knew the basics. When I bought the book, I immediately set two mini habits of one push-up per day and a one breath plank per day. I have done this each day for a week now, and as he suggests, I am doing extra reps each day.The book itself is very concise and to the point. While there are antecdotes, the majority of the book is filled with substance. I had never heard of this concept before, but I’m going to see how it works for me. I do wish there was a way to use this with negative habits, such as smoking. I’m hopeful that Stephen will figure out a way to parlay this theory into that realm at some point as well.Bottom Line – Quick read, good content, well worth the time and money.

I must say, I based my purchase merely on reviews and not because I was searching for a particular life improvement strategy, or because I heard of the bestselling status of the book. I’m glad I read this book and learned a lot from what the author shares with an exciting, simple, and innovating approach that touches diverse readers. This book can potentially help people (myself included) to change their lives for the best, and his input and scientifically supported research also helps you gain a new perspective on what we think we know as obvious, but really, we don’t. I hope to see more work from this author, and I hope he continues on a path to serve and help others, as he did with the book Mini Habits. Great job, Mr. Guise and thank you.

Like so many, I have issues with making improvements in my life. I want to make changes, but when I try it becomes overwhelming. At least that was the way until I read this book. Stephen Guise walks through the typical issues people, including me, face while trying to change their routine. Then he introduces his technique of breaking things down into smaller and more manageable steps. Stephen’s writing approach is simple, direct, and makes lots of sense. Since reading this book I have made several positive changes in my life. I thank Stephen for helping me become closer to the person I have always wanted to be.

I am practically a professional pessimist, however, I am also highly disciplined, hard worker, taking on new tasks, learning new skills, assuming more responsibilities, always pushing myself, self critical…etc. About half way through this book I realized I was feeling a little high. Now I am not really experienced with feeling high, half a bottle of champagne is about it, drunk slowly with food it is great. But I do not know how else to describe what I was feeling. I was the “throw away kid” in the family. Everybody entertained themselves by talking about what a failure and disappointment I was, constantly from when I was tiny until I broke free of them. Perhaps I owe my current strengths to them, but then they are also responsible for my perpetual pessimism and dissatisfaction with myself. There are so many people out there who experienced sad childhoods, (Many much worse than mine!), I think this should be part of the grade school curriculum, and middle school, and high school, and on and on. Because isn’t a sad childhood very like the chocolate/radish experiment. You see all the lovely things that others receive (kindness, forgiveness, school clothes, birthday parties, etc.), and you do not, for no particular reason, and nothing you can do is going to change that…and you end up with serious ego-depletion. I think this concept is immensely important, for teaching and parenting. And especially for kids themselves. This is not a tricky concept. Growing will power through consistent small successes, creating an ego that expects success…. Nope not tricky. This is a method for healing squashed egos. It is all well and good to celebrate the quick learners, but how about the consistent workers too? If I still had a child in school, I would make for sure that his teacher had a copy of this book, and knew I expected him to read it. I would talk about it at the PTA, if there is still such a thing. Stupid Small efforts that I really think will have HUGE consequences for our kids. I do not see a downside, do you? Happy Trails to You, Seamstress

This book was recommended to us by my kiddo’s therapist, and has helped me not only to help my anxious/ADHD teen experience success in their fight for organization and personal satisfaction, but also to start to make some important (and long resisted) changes in my own life. Focusing on my tiny “to simple and stupid to fail” goals has helped me spin my health and emotions well being in a better direction. I’ve actually been reading it in tandem with “What’s Missing in Medicine” by Dr. Saray Stancic and it’s helping me process her advice in ways that don’t make my head rebel and say “it’s all too hard and I’m going to fail!”

This book helped me bypass the stress of starting and maintaining a new goal.

This book inspired me to try “stupid” small actions which changed how I look at my day. My goals didn’t even seem that big, but I still always seemed to either procrastinate and run out of time in the day, or not get started in the first place. Mini habits broke this cycle. Even if there is little extra time in the day for personal projects, there is time if I approached the activity like a mini habit. Before, I wasted little chunks of time. Now, I do more of the things that I really care about…I actually do some fun, creative activities instead of just boring, mundane life requirements!

(This review was completely rewritten on December 26, 2018. Because WOW, Mini Habits has totally changed my life!)According to the University of Scranton, Journal of Clinical Psychology (2012), New Year’s resolutions have an abysmal success rate of only 8%.What this means, of course, is that 92% of all the New Year’s resolutions that will be made six days from now, are never going to happen. The majority of these resolutions will fall by the wayside within the first couple of weeks.I was looking back over my old blog posts recently and I saw where I had made the declaration on New Year’s Day in 2016 that I was going to finish writing my memoir by the end of that year. And it never happened.About 80% of us intend to write a book someday, according to what I have read. And, for the vast majority of people, that “someday” for writing a book never comes.The first time I tried to write a story about my life, I was in my twenties. I thought I was ready to tell my real-life horror to healing story, but I wasn’t even close to being ready.Today, four decades later, thanks to all the healing therapy that I have had in recent years, I know that I’m as ready as I will ever be to share my story with the world. But even so, writing my memoir is still very hard. It is all too easy, on any given day, to come up with one excuse after another for putting off writing. “I’ll do it tomorrow!”But tomorrow never comes. All we have is today.Sometimes, like when I made a determined New Year’s resolution, I would get all excited and write like my brain was on fire for several mega productive days in a row. But sooner or later, something always happened that seemed bigger than my ability to write, and I wouldn’t get any writing done that day.Sometimes the problem might simply be a headache. At other times, I was just too tired to write. I might get some worrisome news from someone I love, or maybe see something on the national news that upset me. Some days I was too busy running errands, or doing laundry, or taking care of our rescue dogs.There were also many times when I was planning to write a part of my story that was especially painful to think about, and on that particular day I would rather think happier thoughts and enjoy where my life is right now. For all of these and many other reasons, I kept setting my manuscript aside, intending to come back to it tomorrow, or next week, or next month — or next year.This has been my reality for far too many years. Trying and failing, and trying and failing, and trying and failing again, to write a memoir. Even on those days when my writing was going great, I was rarely capable of keeping up the momentum for long. Usually, one solid week of writing every day was the best I could manage at a time. Which is pretty much the longevity of the average New Year’s resolution!Writing so sporadically kills the continuity, too. I kept losing the “flow” in my writing. For this reason, even though I tried really hard to pick up where I had left off, I found that I couldn’t do it, after too many days of not writing had gone by. Which means I kept starting my memoir all over again. I haven’t kept count, but I probably did this hundreds of times.More than anything that I may ever accomplish in this life, I want to finish and publish my memoir. Lord willing, I don’t want to take my story to the grave.But I am not going to make another New Year’s resolution next week, only to fail before the month is out. And that’s okay, because I don’t need to make any more New Year’s resolutions to write my memoir. Why? Because 111 days ago, on September 7, 2018, I discovered an entirely new way of getting myself to write, every single day.So far, this new way of building a daily writing habit is working perfectly for me. For the past 110 days, I have not missed a single day of meeting my memoir writing goal. (I haven’t done today’s memoir writing yet, which is why I say 110 days, instead of 111. But I have no doubt that I will meet my writing goal for today, before I go to bed tonight.)I met my writing goal even on November 20, when my doctor told me that I had skin cancer and needed surgery right away. I met my writing goal on Thanksgiving, as we traveled to be with family. I met my writing goal on December 6, when I checked into the hospital and had surgery under general anesthesia. I met my writing goal on the day after my surgery, when I was in pain and feeling very woozy. I met my writing goal while my husband and I have been battling a miserable flu of some kind for the past couple of weeks. Through headaches, stomach aches, and coughing fits that almost made me pass out, I have met my writing goal every single day.And then there was Christmas! That’s right, I met my writing goal on Christmas eve and on Christmas day.When people came to visit, I met my writing goal. When we had places to go and errands to run, I met my writing goal. When I got some very bad news about my precious aunt, and when I read things in the news media that shattered my heart, I met my writing goal. Even when I was writing very hard things, I still met my writing goal. Regardless of what has been going on, even on the most challenging of days, I have met my writing goal every day for the past 110 days, without missing one single day.I have never been able to do this before. It’s like a miracle — and yet, this method is completely natural — which is why it works so well!This new way that I have found to reach my daily writing goal, doesn’t just work for writing. This method works for any kind of goal that you may want to implement in your life. Five days after I started my memoir writing goal on September 7, I added two daily exercise goals and one daily housework goal. And I haven’t missed any of those goals, either, since I started my three additional goals on September 12. For the past 105 days, through all of the ups and downs: cancer scare, surgery, being sick, bad news, and the holidays, I have met every one of my four daily goals, every single day.Not only have I met my goals every day — on the vast majority of days I have actually exceeded my goals, usually by a tremendous amount.With the exception of having the flu and my recent surgery — which turned out NOT to be cancer, yay! — this is the best my life has been, EVER. Thanks to all the planks I’m doing and the miles I’m putting on my exercise bike, my muscle tone is the best that it’s been in decades.  Best of all, I have written so much further than I’ve ever written in my memoir before — and I am still going strong!So — how is this even possible? When 92% of New Year’s Resolutions fail, when approximately 80% of us want to write a book and never do, and when the vast majority of exercise programs fall by the wayside within the first month — after all the years that I have tried, and failed, over and over again, to write a memoir and to get my muscles in better shape — HOW am I doing this?Here’s how: I bought a book. I read it. And I did what it said.I have read countless self-help, how to write, how to overcome writer’s block, and how to stop procrastinating books, within the past half century. And yet all of those books failed me, just like my New Year’s resolutions always failed.But Mini Habits by Stephen Guise actually works.Take it from an expert in trying and failing to meet an important goal: forget New Year’s resolutions. Whether your goal is getting in shape, cleaning up a terminally messy house, writing a book, pursuing higher education, or whatever you want to  accomplish, if Mini Habits can work for me, I believe it can work for anybody.What’s so different about Mini Habits? The science behind it, that’s what’s different. Mini Habits works, because this is the way our amazing brains were created to work.Thank you for reading my review. God bless, and have a Happy Mini Habits New Year! 

I really liked the simplicity of the mini habits. They truly are “stupid simple”. I am just starting, but I am really interested in the weight loss book.

I learned of this book when it was offered to my via bookbub. Since the preview made sense and seemed so simple, and the reviews (over all) we very positive, I decided to purchase it and see what it had to say.I’m grateful I did.The information presented on what to do and why it works is easy to understand. Also included are personal examples as well as additional resources to use if you want. The author also repeats that if a goal seems to be too big, make it smaller. And explains why.I’m excited to start doing this tonight, Dec. 26th, 2016 because today marks my ten year anniversary of being a non-smoker. Time to add new, positive habits and goals I think.I’m not sure what the normal listed price is for the book, but I didn’t pay much and I believe I got my money’s worthy easily. Hopefully I won’t forget, and I’ll leave an update in 6 months or a year or so, to update everyone on how my progress grows.I’d recommend this book to friends and family.

I have spent 47 years unable to practice piano daily, unable to consistently exercise, and unable to develop all sorts of consistent, positive habits. This book showed me that I’m not an idiot, I was simply trying to do too much. After reading Mini Habits I am well on the road to doing those things that I’ve wanted and needed to do for my entire life. In short, this book is life-changing, it works, and Stephen Guise shows you exactly why it works using scientific studies and logical proofs. The concepts are not based on mere opinion or fanciful ideas! I subscribe to the author’s newsletter, and it’s one of the few that I look forward to reading each week – he consistently provides high quality information. I’ve been telling friends and family about this book, and it’s going on my Top 5 Essential Books List.

Mini Habits work. Here’s my proof:For many years, I was a regular exerciser. My zeal for exercising ebbed and flowed, but I always did something on a regular basis to get my heart pumping. At my best, I walked to the gym in 25-degree weather – in shorts, because I’m not smart – and I ran several miles on the treadmill. I exercised even more when I had a gym in my apartment building. I felt great, and I never once questioned whether exercising was a worthwhile practice. It so obviously improved every facet of my life.Then, a few years ago, I stopped. Maybe it was moving out of the building with the gym. Maybe work got busier. Maybe it was having a kid. Whatever the reason, my exercising habit dwindled and eventually disappeared outright. I could not find the time or – more importantly – the motivation to fit in a half-hour of exercise into my days.As is true of all habits, not exercising became easier and more ingrained each day I did it. Not only was it easier physically to lay in bed rather than run on a treadmill, my brain became better and better at justifying my lack of exercise:”I have no time – not in the morning, the afternoon, the evening, weekends, weekdays. It’s too cold out. It’s too cold in. My gym is too far away [my gym was a block away; I could see my apartment building from the treadmills]. I would definitely exercise at Equinox, but I can’t afford to join. If I had a treadmill at home, I would run every day. I can’t do exercise DVDs because it would annoy the people living below us. Exercising would take away time I could be spending with my wife and our new baby. What if my son ended up in therapy because daddy was too busy exercising to play with him? I can’t risk it.”Even more insidiously, my lazy brain began implanting deeper ideas that would prevent me from exercising today, or tomorrow, or any day: “Does exercise really matter? I’m a cerebral guy – who cares what my body looks or feels like? Sure, exercise is great for Michael Phelps, but I don’t need it. My life is just fine without it.”But it affected me. While I maintained a healthy weight through dieting, and I walked several miles each day as part of a normal life in New York City, I could still feel the lack of regular cardio exercise, the kind that really gets my heart pumping. I felt the lack of exercise in my chest. My body dragged. I was in lousy shape. Climbing a flight of stairs caused me to lose my breath. While singing songs to my baby son, I had to pause for breath between each verse. I even confessed to a friend that “I get winded while whistling.”In the back of my mind, I had the nagging notion that I was hurting myself by not exercising. But it was dwarfed by the impeccable, inarguable logic behind a sedentary lifestyle.To the tiny extent that I did want to exercise, the idea of running a few miles seemed like torture. But of course, I couldn’t do any less than that. I was going to exercise perfectly, or not at all.I waited in vain for my old motivation to suddenly return, for the day when I’d wake up, realize how vital exercise was, jump out of bed, and run five miles with a smile on my face. But it never came.A few months ago, I read Mini Habits; and everything Stephen said about willpower and motivation lined up with my own experience. He understood every dirty trick my brain had pulled to keep me from disrupting my lazy, comfortable, and deeply unhealthy equilibrium.I decided to build the Mini Habit of exercising for 5 minutes per day. My Mini Habit would, at least initially, consist of running in place in our backyard if the weather was good, or in our laundry room if it wasn’t. It felt absurd, like it would accomplish nothing, but it was an exercise commitment that flew under the radar of every excuse that my brain could come up with. My brain simply said, “Sure, whatever, Carl Lewis. Have fun with your ‘exercise’. Maybe you’ll qualify for the New York City Marathon over in the laundry room.”That night, I laced up my sneakers and headed to the laundry room. My brain didn’t try to stop me. I huffed and puffed in place for five minutes. When my timer went off, I wheezed, “Oh, thank you, thank you” and, coursing with relief, I threw off my sneakers.That was 85 nights ago, and I haven’t missed a night of exercise since then. A few weeks ago, I felt comfortable enough to bump up my Mini Habit to ten minutes of exercise per night. A few days ago, I added 2 1/2 minutes of crunches after I run in place.If any of this becomes too onerous, I’ll shift back to five minutes per night until I’m comfortable exercising again. For now, though, it feels right; and every night of exercise makes the next night easier to accomplish, physically and mentally.Eventually I hope to build back up to a half-hour of running, and not just running in place. But I know I’ll get there; and I know that it will only happen if I continue to do something – however small – instead of nothing.Even with only 5-10 minutes of cardio every night, I feel so much better. I breathe easier. I walk faster. I sing – and even whistle – without any detrimental effects.Perhaps most importantly, and fully in line with the book’s philosophy on exercise and willpower, exercising has slowly brought back my motivation to exercise. I’m remembering how good I feel when I’m a regular exerciser, the joy of resting, covered in sweat, after I’ve pushed myself to accomplish something physically difficult. I get excited picturing how my body will eventually look. I’m realizing – once again – how important regular exercise is to my physical, mental, and emotional health.After 85 nights, I’m excited about this. Slowly, over several months, exercising has once again become a part of my identity. None of it happened magically overnight. It happened in sweaty five- and ten-minute mini-increments.Mini Habits helped me improve a vital area of my life when nothing else worked. Thank you to Stephen for inventing such a fantastic concept. I hope that anyone who wants to make a similar change will give Mini Habits a try.

(This review was completely rewritten on December 26, 2018. Because WOW, Mini Habits has totally changed my life!)According to the University of Scranton, Journal of Clinical Psychology (2012), New Year’s resolutions have an abysmal success rate of only 8%.What this means, of course, is that 92% of all the New Year’s resolutions that will be made six days from now, are never going to happen. The majority of these resolutions will fall by the wayside within the first couple of weeks.I was looking back over my old blog posts recently and I saw where I had made the declaration on New Year’s Day in 2016 that I was going to finish writing my memoir by the end of that year. And it never happened.About 80% of us intend to write a book someday, according to what I have read. And, for the vast majority of people, that “someday” for writing a book never comes.The first time I tried to write a story about my life, I was in my twenties. I thought I was ready to tell my real-life horror to healing story, but I wasn’t even close to being ready.Today, four decades later, thanks to all the healing therapy that I have had in recent years, I know that I’m as ready as I will ever be to share my story with the world. But even so, writing my memoir is still very hard. It is all too easy, on any given day, to come up with one excuse after another for putting off writing. “I’ll do it tomorrow!”But tomorrow never comes. All we have is today.Sometimes, like when I made a determined New Year’s resolution, I would get all excited and write like my brain was on fire for several mega productive days in a row. But sooner or later, something always happened that seemed bigger than my ability to write, and I wouldn’t get any writing done that day.Sometimes the problem might simply be a headache. At other times, I was just too tired to write. I might get some worrisome news from someone I love, or maybe see something on the national news that upset me. Some days I was too busy running errands, or doing laundry, or taking care of our rescue dogs.There were also many times when I was planning to write a part of my story that was especially painful to think about, and on that particular day I would rather think happier thoughts and enjoy where my life is right now. For all of these and many other reasons, I kept setting my manuscript aside, intending to come back to it tomorrow, or next week, or next month — or next year.This has been my reality for far too many years. Trying and failing, and trying and failing, and trying and failing again, to write a memoir. Even on those days when my writing was going great, I was rarely capable of keeping up the momentum for long. Usually, one solid week of writing every day was the best I could manage at a time. Which is pretty much the longevity of the average New Year’s resolution!Writing so sporadically kills the continuity, too. I kept losing the “flow” in my writing. For this reason, even though I tried really hard to pick up where I had left off, I found that I couldn’t do it, after too many days of not writing had gone by. Which means I kept starting my memoir all over again. I haven’t kept count, but I probably did this hundreds of times.More than anything that I may ever accomplish in this life, I want to finish and publish my memoir. Lord willing, I don’t want to take my story to the grave.But I am not going to make another New Year’s resolution next week, only to fail before the month is out. And that’s okay, because I don’t need to make any more New Year’s resolutions to write my memoir. Why? Because 111 days ago, on September 7, 2018, I discovered an entirely new way of getting myself to write, every single day.So far, this new way of building a daily writing habit is working perfectly for me. For the past 110 days, I have not missed a single day of meeting my memoir writing goal. (I haven’t done today’s memoir writing yet, which is why I say 110 days, instead of 111. But I have no doubt that I will meet my writing goal for today, before I go to bed tonight.)I met my writing goal even on November 20, when my doctor told me that I had skin cancer and needed surgery right away. I met my writing goal on Thanksgiving, as we traveled to be with family. I met my writing goal on December 6, when I checked into the hospital and had surgery under general anesthesia. I met my writing goal on the day after my surgery, when I was in pain and feeling very woozy. I met my writing goal while my husband and I have been battling a miserable flu of some kind for the past couple of weeks. Through headaches, stomach aches, and coughing fits that almost made me pass out, I have met my writing goal every single day.And then there was Christmas! That’s right, I met my writing goal on Christmas eve and on Christmas day.When people came to visit, I met my writing goal. When we had places to go and errands to run, I met my writing goal. When I got some very bad news about my precious aunt, and when I read things in the news media that shattered my heart, I met my writing goal. Even when I was writing very hard things, I still met my writing goal. Regardless of what has been going on, even on the most challenging of days, I have met my writing goal every day for the past 110 days, without missing one single day.I have never been able to do this before. It’s like a miracle — and yet, this method is completely natural — which is why it works so well!This new way that I have found to reach my daily writing goal, doesn’t just work for writing. This method works for any kind of goal that you may want to implement in your life. Five days after I started my memoir writing goal on September 7, I added two daily exercise goals and one daily housework goal. And I haven’t missed any of those goals, either, since I started my three additional goals on September 12. For the past 105 days, through all of the ups and downs: cancer scare, surgery, being sick, bad news, and the holidays, I have met every one of my four daily goals, every single day.Not only have I met my goals every day — on the vast majority of days I have actually exceeded my goals, usually by a tremendous amount.With the exception of having the flu and my recent surgery — which turned out NOT to be cancer, yay! — this is the best my life has been, EVER. Thanks to all the planks I’m doing and the miles I’m putting on my exercise bike, my muscle tone is the best that it’s been in decades.  Best of all, I have written so much further than I’ve ever written in my memoir before — and I am still going strong!So — how is this even possible? When 92% of New Year’s Resolutions fail, when approximately 80% of us want to write a book and never do, and when the vast majority of exercise programs fall by the wayside within the first month — after all the years that I have tried, and failed, over and over again, to write a memoir and to get my muscles in better shape — HOW am I doing this?Here’s how: I bought a book. I read it. And I did what it said.I have read countless self-help, how to write, how to overcome writer’s block, and how to stop procrastinating books, within the past half century. And yet all of those books failed me, just like my New Year’s resolutions always failed.But Mini Habits by Stephen Guise actually works.Take it from an expert in trying and failing to meet an important goal: forget New Year’s resolutions. Whether your goal is getting in shape, cleaning up a terminally messy house, writing a book, pursuing higher education, or whatever you want to  accomplish, if Mini Habits can work for me, I believe it can work for anybody.What’s so different about Mini Habits? The science behind it, that’s what’s different. Mini Habits works, because this is the way our amazing brains were created to work.Thank you for reading my review. God bless, and have a Happy Mini Habits New Year! 

I would recommend this book to anyone, like me, who has trouble getting and staying motivated to incorporate good habits in their lives. Stephen Guise lays it all out: why our motivation wanes and what we can do about it. Breaking down a desired habit into something that is ridiculously easy to do was a game changer for me. I’m one of those perfectionists whose brain thinks, “Hey, this looks too hard. If you can’t finish, why bother to even start?” Mini habits circumvent that mindset. Small successes can beget big results. I was so impressed by these concepts that I sent this e-book as a gift to my siblings. I hope they get as much out of it as I have. Read this book! It’s a fast read and you can even use it to start your first mini habit: read two pages a day.

I promised myself I would not start any habits, with the exception of one, until I finished the book. That one habit was to read one page, just ONE, before bed each night, One page turned into two, turned into a chapter. I finished the book within a week and knew exactly what 3 habits I wanted to begin. Those three habits have a total time investment of less than 10 minutes per day. As Mr. Guise says it would take longer and use more energy to talk myself out of doing each habit than just doing them.6 weeks later those habits are sticking and I’m ready to add three more.This book is easy to read, the psychology makes sense, and it isn’t overwhelming,I have recommended this book to several friends and have purchased additional copies for gifts!

Just finished the book a week ago, and it’s already making a difference. For example, I’ve been wanting to work in sit-ups, push-ups and lifting dumbbells into my regular walking, but the usual reasons of tiredness, young kids, too late in the night have me avoiding sit ups for four years. After reading the book, I set my mini-goal of one sit up. As a result, one week later, I’m doing 40 sit ups and brought the dumbbells back in from the garage and doing one set each day. (So glad I didn’t give those dumbbells to charity.)The book explains how you are defeating yourself when you set big goals because the brain will resist big changes. So, setting these mini-goals will trick the brain in expanding the comfort zone. Then, the mini-habits will stick and their effect will be significant like compound interest.Powerful concepts. Wish I had this book 20 years ago, but I imagine Mr. Guise would be just an adolescent 20 years ago.

I bought this book for Kindle about a week ago. It made sense to me and as usual for me, I overdid, coming up with about a dozen good habits I wanted to acquire immediately. Fortunately, after a couple of days, I noticed it said something like 1 – 4 and cut back my list to 4 behavior changes to begin with. Starting out with only 4 habit changes, it isn’t so overwhelming and shows signs of working to the point that I no longer have to consult my list to remember what habits I’m working on.Then, yesterday, I bought EFT and Tapping for beginners and went through the tapping routine once to try it out. I found it so calming, I added tapping to my list and now have 5 items on my list.After running through the tapping routine just before bed time, I slept all night without waking, which is a major milestone for me. I have been an insomniac all my life, waking in the middle of the night and not able to get back to sleep for 2 or 3 hours. I believe I’ll be able to stick with it and I think this combination of mini habits and tapping is really going to do me some good. I feel very encouraged.For the curious, my list of mini habits includes:1) doing at least one stitch of crochet a day. (I have a bad habit of starting projects and then abandoning them.)2) eating one vegetarian meal a day.3) reading 2 pages of something self improving.4) 1 crunch a day5) 1 tapping routine before bed time.Since I am 78 years old, my bad habits are pretty well established, but better late than never.Wish me luck.

I have read hundreds of books on personal and professional development over the past 40 years and this easy read is a gem and among the top 5 in terms of impact. One of the strengths of the book is how well Stephen explains “why” these strategies work and how he has designed them to customize to your needs so that it is almost impossible to fail. Purchased both the Kindle e-book and the Audible version (I spend a lot of time on the road) and found they complement each other well in that the entertaining writing style of the book translates extremely well in the hands of the skilled narrator and helps me more quickly absorb the material and put it to work. Was so impressed that I quickly purchased his second book “How to Be an Imperfectionist: The New Way to Self-Acceptance, Fearless Living and Freedom from Perfectionism” and am finding that book also exceptionally well-researched, written and useful. That Audible version has the same excellent narrator. Not many books are truly life-changing, but both of these are.

This is great advice for getting yourself into action and moving forward. I have already put several mini habits into action. And I am happy to say that I am now doing more regularly than ever.

. . . then give yourself the gift of reading this one. The book’s premise is a ridiculously simple concept, which may well explain why almost everyone so far has over-looked it. Until now.The cliche praise of calling a self-improvement book a life-changing experience is–in this particular case–more than justified and precisely on the mark.It’s an easy one or two night read, and years from now you may look back on the time you read it as the precise point at which your life began to significantly change for the better. We truly owe Stephen Guise a profound degree of gratitude for getting us to believe that “stupidly small steps” can–and almost certainly will–contribute to significant and positive changes in our lives–and, by indirect effect–also to those around us. So here’s a high five to ya Stephen.PS: After reading your book I started out small by giving people a “high one” (finger) salute, but it was so often misinterpreted that I just had to jack it up to a five.

So I have just created a new mini-habit. My new mini-habit is I will leave one amazon review for every 10 books I read. Like many of you, I have relied heavily on customer reviews when making a kindle order. I search for books in areas of interest to me and then I immediately look at the customer reviews to help me decide which book resonated with its readers. I am sure, that I went through the same process before selecting this book. If you want to know whether or not Stephen Guise’s message resonated with me, the fact that I am writing this review should be all the proof you need. The overall theme of his mini-habits system is that good intentions are not the same thing as good results. The only thing that matters when changing behavior and making it habit forming is the ability to do the behavior consistently even on your worst day. By setting the bar very low (not a negative thing) success becomes inevitable. As I was reading this book, this philosophy kept making more and more sense to me. In fact, I am happy to say that I have set 4 mini-habits for me and after 3 weeks I have yet to fail in achieving them. It may not sound impressive to many, but I and anyone else who reads this book, will understand how important this consistency is in reaching long term goals. My favorite line in the entire book that so succinctly summarizes this process is: “Be the person with embarrassing goals and impressive results instead of the person with impressive goals and embarrassing results”. This book is for anyone who wants to make any type of positive change in their life, and it makes that change seem not only possible but a lifetime habit.

The advice in the book is clear and concise and it works. I have read other personal development books and always found myself struggling with the concept and idea, but not with this book. The book is nicely written and talks to the point. I have started implementing the ideas in the book and have found my life to be fun filled with mini habits. I do not not know if eventually I will make some big changes with these mini habits or not, but I have started enjoying them. Doing these mini has calmed me like meditation. Do more by doing less is the mantra.I learn spanish every day on duo lingo. I do push-ups and chin-ups everyday. I read books everyday (technical and fiction). I think a positive thought everyday. What else do you need in life :)?

The idea’s in this book work for me…..I will read it again and again and so on, just to remind myself that life is not that difficult when taken in mini bites…. I have mini habits on the go NOW. My garden, a rather large one (4 acres) that was being neglected big time…It all looked too overwhelming for me to deal with…NOT NOW, not after trying the one weed a day trick…. I ended up doing one potted up planter of annuals a day or one pruned shrub a day and so on. Even on rainy days one weed a day is definitely achievable…(like run outside grab a weed put it in the rubbish and run back inside, now that is still successful in Stephen Guise and my eyes)………The bonus….my family called in today and commented on our beautiful garden…. They laughed when I told them it all started with one weed a day…..Thank you Stephen Guise and thank you Amazon for making this book available for me to learn such a valuable MAXI lesson

Wow!! This book is well written and provides actionable steps you can easily take within the very first sentence. I just finished reading the book moments ago but am on day 3 of my new mini habits. The cool thing about reading this book is that it immediately made sense to me. I had several “aha!” moments. I had already begun to recognize the same benefits of mini habits in my own life but struggled with implementing them further. This was partly because I didn’t have a defined strategy and partly because it goes against conventional methods. Well I do now!! Thank you Stephen for writing this book so I can now confidently implement this strategy with a plan. I already have 5 people lined up to loan this book to and have shared the information about this book and where I bought it with probably another dozen people. This is a must read for everyone!!! I now plan to seek out his other books to read.

His premise is sound and his advice works. Now if I can just get motivated to exert my willpower, I’ll be a more productive person. I’m being ironic here, but that is what this book is about–willpower vs motivation and I believe that the author is on to something and I benefited greatly from reading this book and I find myself pulling it up on my Kindle and re-reading sections of the book to remind myself of what he said. This has helped my golf game and my music practice. I have developed mini-habits where I will practice my swing in the living room (I have a high ceiling) or the backyard for just a couple of minutes and I am able to take those swing habits to the golf course. Same thing with my music practice. Rather than sitting down to a two-hour practice session, I will practice a simple progression or lick until I perfect it. Small gains, big results from mini-habits.

We love this book! No kidding. My son and I both read it and our mini habits are underway, carving new pathways toward good, positive habits in our brains. The system is easy, “stupid, mini, easy,” for two such as us. We have the motivation and momentum of a lead ball rolling up hill, and not enough will power between us to fill a thimble! Mini habits makes such good sense, and like the book says, its harder to fail than not to! Get this simple little book for yourself and you’ll want to share it with everyone!

Every once in a while(a few eons) comes a book that will stand the test of time,and this book will be standing right there after all of us are extinct and a whole new generation rises. Having this book in your library would be an understatement. I have struggled with certain objectives for a long time, (((there are times when you have heard of ideas but a)dont have the courage to start them b)give up too soon because you dont see results, c) add your own reasons here and let me know too.))) but it took Stephen to put it properly. The idea is not new, I first exposed to it in highschool when I noticed another student mark chapters in a book in 30 minute increments and I was like yea right, he doesnt know what he is talking about. This idea is also part of my faith. As muslims we are reminded of the saying of the Prophet Muhammed (Peace be upon him) that any act done no matter how small done everyday is more dear in the sight of the Lord. We all have objectives and challenges, but I didnt realize that something like pushups could be reduced to just one pushup a day. Thank you Stephen for this eye opening book. This is the number 1 book of the year for me. I will read it again. Thank you soo much Stephen.

The principles in this book work and here’s why: this book teaches you how to work with your brain instead of against it. It’s just that simply. Mini Habits is written in a way that can not only help the reader, but also help the reader help others too. Doctors, therapists, parents, employers, in fact anyone that tries to get another individual moving in the right direction can appreciate the wisdom in these pages. Now you know why there are passages on why this strategy works, not just instructions on “do this”.

I LOVED this book. My only complaint with it was that it mentions weight loss and “obesity” multiple times so it’s clear that the author still subscribed to weight loss culture, but even still, it’s not shaming and mentions it more in passing or as an example. As a therapist, I highly recommend this book and think it’s a great recommendation, especially for folks who struggle with executive function!

Do you struggle to juggle all your responsibilities as a mom? Is self-care neglected because you’re caring for other people constantly? I’m a mom of four. Two are in college, one has special needs, and the youngest is 9. I have always felt like I needed to be four different people, one person for each of my children because it requires so much of me to help them all. Do yourself a favor and READ THIS BOOK. You do not lack the will power. You do not lack the ability to achieve your goals. You CAN take care of yourself, your house, and your children every day. No matter what you think your MO is, you’re better than all your failures. Inside your brain are all the plans, all the dreams, all the habits you need, just waiting to be released. I’m 50 years old. Yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks. Apart from the Bible, no other book has ever had this big of an impact on my life. Understanding how God created our brain to work is the KEY to success. I LOVE the success I am having each day in my “mini” ways and they have catapulted me to Much Bigger Results than I ever had before. Not only that, but all my kids are catching on. Even my youngest is being trained to change her life in mini ways. She is readily accepting and liking the success that she is having, like keeping her room clean!! I wish I had read this 20 years ago, when I first became a parent. But, better late than never. And, yes, you need to actually read the book. I just finished tonight and knew that I had to leave a review. Start living the life you always dreamed and be the person you always wanted to be. You can do it! God bless!!

Extremely great read! I’ve never reviewed a book before. EVER. After just finishing this book, I immediately want to pass it on to family members like it’s the recipe for a great life. I really hope this book takes off. It’s like the mental framework behind the book The Secret, but practical. I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s an easy read. I had to read this book as a class assignment. I never read in detail, usually speed read or skim through and get general information, but it was “stupid easy” to read to just thumb through. I don’t want to set others expectations too high, but if you need a fresh perspective on how to start a lifestyle that you want, then this book is for you.

The strategies and tips in this book have the potential to be life-changing, but only if you actually follow the steps.It’s easy to dismiss good information as useless when we don’t take the time to implement it in our lives. The real difference comes not when you finish a book but when you implement its knowledge and tips in your own life. This is what I’m aiming to do now.If you’re considering getting this book, please do! It’s a short read but it’s packed with good info that has the potential to change your life — but, like I said, it’s only if you actually try it.

I’m a chronic procrastinator. I’m consistently pinned to my chair, half laying in it and mumbling about not being able to do anything. If I even think about doing something I really want to do, I have a difficult time raising just my hand. I’m an expert at not doing anything, and wasting time. I always thought big, too big. Even other time wasters were difficult to do, like playing games or watching tv shows. In a way, life was a cage where all the fun stuff I want to do was just outside my hand’s reach.Mini habits gave me the key to unlock that cage.I started simple, 1 push up a day. 1 minute walking outside. Read 1 page a day. 24 days have passed since I’ve started (I read the blog first of all, that’s how I’ve learnt the concept). Everyday a success.My 1 push up is still growing, but I’ve consistently do bonus reps. My “read 1 page a day” has resulted in completing 7 books in roughly 3 weeks. My 1 minute walk outside changed into me conquering my fear of darkness which has been with me my entire life. I go out twice now for two walks, and I run back from them. Once when it’s still light and once in the dark. My fear of dark has completely gone, I feel like I’m a completely different person now. I’m proud of my self. And all this from just walking outside for 1 minute.Mini habits will teach you what you need to know to get along with your brain, and leverage the power of habits. It’ll tell you how to get there step by step. Understanding is key here, because it’s easy to make a blunder, like increasing your requirements when they should stay “stupid small”. The book has everything you need. It’ll give you the science, and help you along your first steps. Once you know what you’re doing, you’ll have no trouble growing on your own.Like they say: Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.This book will teach you how to fish.

I’ve read quite a few habit books and this one is a winner. Not only did I come away excited about creating mini habits and having learned a lot but I’ve actually created two and stuck with them (time with God every day plus stretching every day). I’ve discovered that not only is it possible to now do what I’ve wanted to do but that being successful with it removes the guilt and frustration of not doing what’s important to me. It surprised me how much of a burden was lifted by just doing my two mini habits daily. I no longer beat myself up for not getting around to doing what I feel is important. All I require of myself is to sit down in my chair with Jesus and spend three minutes there, plus do one pose on my yoga mat. I often do more but the mere fact that I’ve done that much is satisfying. Thank you!

This book should be taught at schools. Businesses. Everywhere.I’m almost never someone who will say that something as simple as a book has changed my life and the way I do things, but here I am.In just a few short months that I have read this, I have accomplished MANY goals that would probably have FOREVER been done “Some day.”If you want Someday to become real life and actually happen, Today, this is one of the best routes there!It makes you feel like you can do anything, just not in the way you thought it might happen.It is one of the best psychology mind tricks to bypass my holdups and excuses that I have ever come across.I’ve tried every form of motivation, and it’s great until it just wears off or gets sidetracked with life. This bypasses relying on motivation to start with.There is a newer book that improves on this one, but this is the fundamentals and a MUST!

This book has a considerable number of typos and grammar mistakes, which bothered me a little and took away from the professionalism of the book. However, I urge anyone bothered by this to keep reading. The content is worth five stars.I actually started implementing a micro-habit strategy over the summer, when I was studying for a huge test. For years, I have struggled with focus, motivation and follow-through. I am full of ideas, but when I think about the work required to achieve my goals, I tend to get easily overwhelmed and give up before I’ve started.Then, last summer, I discovered that if I set timers for small amounts of time and repeated that process throughout the day, I could overcome paralysis and begin to take significant action. I now do the same thing with house cleaning; I frequently set a timer for just two minutes to get a little cleaning done. When I repeat this throughout the day, I can easily get in twenty total minutes of cleaning, while I would probably do nothing if I set the intention to do twenty minutes at a time.This book helped me understand why this strategy works so well for me and inspired me to incorporate mini habits into other areas of my life, especially exercise and writing. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to start a blog this year, and after sitting on the URL for weeks, I finally wrote my first blog post today after setting a mini goal to write just fifty words (which I exceeded significantly).This book is a “must read” for anyone looking to improve his or her life.

Masterpiece – simple and profoundly counterintuitive.If you need to befriend your mind and let your doing transform your thinking this book is for you. Every moment mini-action leads to the momentum – his new book – you never imagined.Thank you, Stephen

Mini Habits Mini Review:Get it.Read it.Do it.Reap the benefits.A Little Longer Review:We’ve all read the blogs and books about forming habits. We all know what we need to do. We’ve all tried and we’ve all failed. Repeatedly.Stephen knows this because he is one of us as well.What he has come up with is “stupid small” steps. Many of us, me included, are experts at making our habit change plans in detail and know long it should take to achieve our results. Then intimidation of what needs to happen can overwhelm us. The utter brilliance of stupid small steps are daily goals that you can do easily with out having to devote much precious willpower to complete. You will have a victory each day to work from. Not doing it is tantamount to trying to drive with out starting your car….stupid small steps.As for myself, I want to write. But I can hardly ever get myself to sit down and move the pen or put fingers to the keyboard. The review for this book has already gotten me way past my new goal of writing 50 words a day. A nice red victory checkmark will go on my wall calendar!Buy this book and read it. It’s short and packs a punch. You probably spend more time in a week reading habit /personal development blogs than it would to read through this book and implement it.My new motto is Stupid Small…Thanks Stephen!

Mini Habits work. Here’s my proof:For many years, I was a regular exerciser. My zeal for exercising ebbed and flowed, but I always did something on a regular basis to get my heart pumping. At my best, I walked to the gym in 25-degree weather – in shorts, because I’m not smart – and I ran several miles on the treadmill. I exercised even more when I had a gym in my apartment building. I felt great, and I never once questioned whether exercising was a worthwhile practice. It so obviously improved every facet of my life.Then, a few years ago, I stopped. Maybe it was moving out of the building with the gym. Maybe work got busier. Maybe it was having a kid. Whatever the reason, my exercising habit dwindled and eventually disappeared outright. I could not find the time or – more importantly – the motivation to fit in a half-hour of exercise into my days.As is true of all habits, not exercising became easier and more ingrained each day I did it. Not only was it easier physically to lay in bed rather than run on a treadmill, my brain became better and better at justifying my lack of exercise:”I have no time – not in the morning, the afternoon, the evening, weekends, weekdays. It’s too cold out. It’s too cold in. My gym is too far away [my gym was a block away; I could see my apartment building from the treadmills]. I would definitely exercise at Equinox, but I can’t afford to join. If I had a treadmill at home, I would run every day. I can’t do exercise DVDs because it would annoy the people living below us. Exercising would take away time I could be spending with my wife and our new baby. What if my son ended up in therapy because daddy was too busy exercising to play with him? I can’t risk it.”Even more insidiously, my lazy brain began implanting deeper ideas that would prevent me from exercising today, or tomorrow, or any day: “Does exercise really matter? I’m a cerebral guy – who cares what my body looks or feels like? Sure, exercise is great for Michael Phelps, but I don’t need it. My life is just fine without it.”But it affected me. While I maintained a healthy weight through dieting, and I walked several miles each day as part of a normal life in New York City, I could still feel the lack of regular cardio exercise, the kind that really gets my heart pumping. I felt the lack of exercise in my chest. My body dragged. I was in lousy shape. Climbing a flight of stairs caused me to lose my breath. While singing songs to my baby son, I had to pause for breath between each verse. I even confessed to a friend that “I get winded while whistling.”In the back of my mind, I had the nagging notion that I was hurting myself by not exercising. But it was dwarfed by the impeccable, inarguable logic behind a sedentary lifestyle.To the tiny extent that I did want to exercise, the idea of running a few miles seemed like torture. But of course, I couldn’t do any less than that. I was going to exercise perfectly, or not at all.I waited in vain for my old motivation to suddenly return, for the day when I’d wake up, realize how vital exercise was, jump out of bed, and run five miles with a smile on my face. But it never came.A few months ago, I read Mini Habits; and everything Stephen said about willpower and motivation lined up with my own experience. He understood every dirty trick my brain had pulled to keep me from disrupting my lazy, comfortable, and deeply unhealthy equilibrium.I decided to build the Mini Habit of exercising for 5 minutes per day. My Mini Habit would, at least initially, consist of running in place in our backyard if the weather was good, or in our laundry room if it wasn’t. It felt absurd, like it would accomplish nothing, but it was an exercise commitment that flew under the radar of every excuse that my brain could come up with. My brain simply said, “Sure, whatever, Carl Lewis. Have fun with your ‘exercise’. Maybe you’ll qualify for the New York City Marathon over in the laundry room.”That night, I laced up my sneakers and headed to the laundry room. My brain didn’t try to stop me. I huffed and puffed in place for five minutes. When my timer went off, I wheezed, “Oh, thank you, thank you” and, coursing with relief, I threw off my sneakers.That was 85 nights ago, and I haven’t missed a night of exercise since then. A few weeks ago, I felt comfortable enough to bump up my Mini Habit to ten minutes of exercise per night. A few days ago, I added 2 1/2 minutes of crunches after I run in place.If any of this becomes too onerous, I’ll shift back to five minutes per night until I’m comfortable exercising again. For now, though, it feels right; and every night of exercise makes the next night easier to accomplish, physically and mentally.Eventually I hope to build back up to a half-hour of running, and not just running in place. But I know I’ll get there; and I know that it will only happen if I continue to do something – however small – instead of nothing.Even with only 5-10 minutes of cardio every night, I feel so much better. I breathe easier. I walk faster. I sing – and even whistle – without any detrimental effects.Perhaps most importantly, and fully in line with the book’s philosophy on exercise and willpower, exercising has slowly brought back my motivation to exercise. I’m remembering how good I feel when I’m a regular exerciser, the joy of resting, covered in sweat, after I’ve pushed myself to accomplish something physically difficult. I get excited picturing how my body will eventually look. I’m realizing – once again – how important regular exercise is to my physical, mental, and emotional health.After 85 nights, I’m excited about this. Slowly, over several months, exercising has once again become a part of my identity. None of it happened magically overnight. It happened in sweaty five- and ten-minute mini-increments.Mini Habits helped me improve a vital area of my life when nothing else worked. Thank you to Stephen for inventing such a fantastic concept. I hope that anyone who wants to make a similar change will give Mini Habits a try.

Ingenious! Mini habits is a great way to institute lasting change in our lives. Many aspirations or goals fail due to a delcine in motivation or will power, which just kills the confidence and continues the cycle. With mini habits, you are guided to set very small goals for things you want to become habits, such as working out. Guise proposes that if the goal is so small it is silly NOT to accomplish it each day, you will do it. If we set a goal that is too lofty, often our dread of the longterm commitment gets in our way, we end up discouraged and not following through. With mini habits, that can not happen. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am planning to give it as gifts to friends and family who have habitually struggled with maintaining focus and dedication to their goals. Guise presents a deliciously easy way to achieve the goals, feel like a winner, and spur yourself on to building on these new habits. Amazing body of work, I highly recommend it!

Mini Habits was just the book I needed to read and am so glad that my business coach recommended it to me.It’s been a little over 2 weeks and I have only failed to complete my mini habits on one of those days.Last night I knew I had to get my 1 push-up in to complete one of my mini habits and ended up doing 50. I didn’t even feel like doing any and wasn’t even enthuse about doing one but once I got going it was easy.In fact, I’ve done 140 push-ups over the last 6 days.I’ve also read an entire book in just 2 weeks which is a record for me, especially since I am a slow reader. Mini Habits is what I credit for my success.

I can’t say yet if the system will work for me, but it sounds amazingly simple and the implementation of this philosophy seems almost joyful compared to the hardcore motivation-out-of-nowhere systems or plans out there. I love the way the book is written as the author does his best to be relatable to the reader, accomplishing in creating a sense that “this guy is just like me and has been there as well!”. Great book for the price and I can already tell it’ll be a great system for me and the addition of new, positive habits into my low motivation life.

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.

Anyone my age knows for sure that time marches on, the world changes and it does not ask my permission. I made a sales call on a business years ago and noticed the receptionist did not have a typewriter on her desk. I said, “Where is your typewriter?” She pointed at her keyboard. I said “Where does the paper go?” At one point I knew I could not continue living as I was. I tried to change and failed, then I got help and succeeded. In retrospect the recommendations of this book are what I actually did and they worked for me. They still work for me. It is not easy to change your fundamental lifestyle but it is possible and often necessary. One Day At A Time. Small steps.

Excellent book. Well written and a quick read.Mini habits is not a new concept (and could be summarized in a few sentences), but the book does a great job of explaining the science behind why it works and how the brain works. The science was explained in an easy-to-understand way and did not go into unnecessary detail. I enjoyed learning about the why and how. While it’s incredibly simple, I do believe it can be a powerful tool for self-improvement. One of those things you can call a “Life Hack”.The book is easy to digest. The author’s humor is funny and well-executed where it doesn’t distract from the book. Ironically, he talks a lot about his daily writing habit which he used to write the book, and it’s apparent that his practice pays off with his ability to write in a clear way. The book is very short, but I appreciate that he didn’t try to fluff it up just to make it longer (any longer and it probably would’ve started getting repetitive since the concept is simple).

Ideally short and well written book. Totally practical. What it says is plug and play. In my own words, its most basic principle is to define the “atomic” part of any project, and to try to accomplish it at least, every day. When you do every day the atomic part of every project, he inertia of laziness to start a project goes away.I tried to contact the author for applying its principles into music, but have not been successful for the moment. So I used my intuition on this. Maybe some final notes on topics like these could also help.

This book popped up as recommended reading on Amazon many times over the past year as I’ve searched and read and searched some more for the book that finally resonated with me as I navigate the tricky road of goal setting and following through. Just find The One Thing! (Keller & Papasan) Why can’t I defeat Resistance and Do The Work! (The War of Art by Pressfield) For goodness sake, why am I not Getting Things Done?? (Allen) I’m sure all I need is The Power of Habit (Duhigg).I can’t think of anymore off the top of my head, but you get the idea. Don’t get me wrong–these are all FANTASTIC books and I enjoyed reading them AND gained value from them AND I recommend them (seriously, read them all). But I’d find myself searching Amazon again for the one that would finally solve the problem for me and get me started on the path. And keep me on it.So why did I keep passing this one by? Something about the cover didn’t speak to me (I know, I know…don’t judge a book by it’s cover, but alas I did). But then I saw it as recommended reading by Mike Matthews on his MuscleForLife.com website. I respect him and his opinion so I decided to give it a shot. I’m so glad I did. Normally I download my books for free through our local library’s OverDrive option. This book wasn’t available through them, so I bought it. Worth every penny.”Stupid small” goals are working wonders in my life in just a few weeks. This time it feels different. I’ve set enough goals and began this enough times in my 40+ years to know when it’s different. Will it last? Can’t answer that yet. But I am pretty good about updating my reviews, especially when I’m blown away by a product. I’m hopeful. And I’ve stopped the Amazon searching for the next goal fixer, which I think indicates something. I’m spending that time I used to spend reading & searching actually working toward my goals. And it feels great!***Just a note about the other books–I really think they provided a nice base of knowledge. I do recommend reading them. And David Allen’s Getting Things Done book was a game changer as well for me. I set it all up after reading that book and it works, but now I’m transferring all that to Trello (I love Trello!) and using Allen’s ideas from the book with the software.

I picked up this book after I saw it on a list of recommended books to read for self improvement or development in a Tony Robbin’s private group page. I cannot express enough how much I highly recommend this book for people wanting to make changes, struggling to make changes or those who are overwhelmed, burn-out or just looking for a new perspective or edge.For most of my life, I have been a real go-getter, that was highly motivated, successful and an avid learner. In the past few years, I had reached a point where I was really struggling to get myself to do anything. I was burned out. I had many things that I wanted to do, but found that all my old ways of getting myself to do things just wasn’t working.I am excited to say that this book has changed all that!I learned SO much from this book. One of the biggest insights about myself and why I was “stuck”, was that as I accomplished things, I would set the bar or goal higher and higher for myself. I reached a point where I had made the “must”, and all the “have to’s” and goals so big in my life, I had total resistance and did NOT want to do them. It was requiring more and more motivation to do anything, and my motivation tank had run out! The book explains more about this, but, it was a light bulb moment for me!I’m one of those people that thinks big and USED to believe If it was too small it wasn’t worth doing. However, if you aren’t able to get going, or you can’t even start, or you do and cannot sustain it, then it doesn’t really matter what size your goal is.Since reading this book, I have begun to exercise consistently, I do a little organization every day and I have completed one book, by reading every day. All that by implementing what he teaches. I feel good about myself and what I am accomplishing. I have set myself up to win. Some of what is recommend may sound too simple or too easy. Trust the process and just do it.This book really does make it easy.