Importance of Starting Small

Yes, everybody wants to change their lifestyle, want to be better than yesterday, and starts to build a new habit enthusiastically, but most of them certainly fail in their first week. They would not be able to keep up their commitment and tend to lose track and get back to their old routine within the second week either consciously or unconsciously. What would be the reason for this failure at their start? Here it is…

1. Starting Big Does Not Help

We try to climb the Everest even before we’ve learned how to walk. Why torture ourselves? Starting is a great effort, but avoid starting big:

• Start with 5minutes walking and increase gradually to 30min and go on


• Start with one teeth flossing and increase gradually


• Start with 2minutes yoga or meditate and increase gradually

Start -> Be Consistent -> Build Habit -> Increase Gradually

2. Thoughts of Excuses

You are starting something that you want:

• Change your perspective: for instance, “I can’t exercise because I’m too busy.” Instead of using an excuse, organize your schedule to allow you to exercise. That’s why you should “Start small”, so you can never say no to it.


• Stop procrastinating always with self-talk: How easy to do or how to do or how to avoid – you tend to talk to yourself convincing yourself from not doing what you had planned to do. Watch out for your mental thoughts. And don’t accept any reasons (like the weather or your environment). Be aware of self-talk and turn those into positive/productive statements, which will drive your behavior

Keep it in mind that initially, it does not matter how well you do a challenge –what matters is whether you do it or not. For example – doing consistently 5 pushups for 30days will yield greater result than doing 50pushups for 5 days and giving up.

Once you are done with your activity, make sure you update it on zoojoo.be. This will help track your habit score, consistency, and know how you are progressing.

Do you want to be Successful in forming a habit? One Simple Rule

Start Exceedingly Small

For example – 3 Pushups every day, Write just 3 sentences every day, or just walk 5 minutes every morning

How important is starting small? View our factsheet below.

The Importance of Starting Small

It’s important you commit yourself for less time/less effort so

• You will not say “I am busy”


• You will not get tired


• You will not be forced by yourself (torture yourself)


• You can obey yourself


• You can appreciate yourself

Factsheet

The following data for the challenge “Go for a walk” shows how users succeed in forming habits and why some users fail.

Case1: Users who took a smaller time interval like 10, 15, or 20 mins of walking made them efficiently and consistently to do almost every day. 10min was extremely easy for them they were able to achieve this without thinking much.

Case 2: Users who set 30, 45, or 60 min for walking failed to achieve the days they have taken. They seemed very excited to do it on the first day but felt the challenge was difficult for them. In fact, these users are losing control over the second week and failed to do even once.

Factsheet Infographic

In the above graph, Purnima & Mahesh have kept their challenges simple and achievable (10min per day); it is inevitable that they are much encouraged to do the next day. Within a few weeks, they have successfully formed their walking habit.

These numbers are real and prove that when starting to form a habit, the best way to go about is by starting small. Go ahead and try for yourself. This will work wonders for you.

Remember “Keep it simple so you will never say no“.

Happy habit forming.