Story 1: How long do you keep exercising?

The company plans to arrange yoga fitness activities for female employees during the lunch break on weekdays. Well-known yoga instructors were specially invited, and the activity place was also arranged in the building of the unit, and a series of auxiliary equipment such as yoga mats were equipped. It is equivalent to "carrying a cover" and you can do yoga.

Did not live up to the company's thoughtful arrangements. When registering statistics, every department was very enthusiastic, and male colleagues called for "no gender discrimination". The scene of the first class was predictably hot. A large classroom was overcrowded, and even a large section was accidentally "connected".

So if I don't say the rest, can you guess? That's right, fewer and fewer people. There were even two teachers in the days near the holiday. Does everyone exercise too much? No, considering it's a lunch break, the coach has reduced the amount of exercise to a minimum, and it's basically a relaxed posture. Moreover, basically every registered colleague has equipped himself with beautiful yoga clothes and other personalized sports equipment, which shows his determination to persist in sports. Then, why gradually, everyone stopped going?

Story 2: 65438+February 3 1 Will you make New Year's resolutions?

Although the Lunar New Year lacks the traditional seven-day holiday and family reunion, New Year's Eve ceremonies around the world often make us feel sorry for another 365 days that have slipped away quietly: I can't waste my good time like this in the blink of an eye! Therefore, I am always eager to set a long-term goal. Next year, I will: lose weight successfully; Read 100 books; Promotion and salary increase ... Then I made a plan in 65438+ 10, and tried to refuel in February. In March and April ... it seems that there are goals and plans in 165438+ 10. Maybe you will dig out the records at that time, but no matter what you look at, you will feel like a lifetime ago. In other words, I just thought about it in my mind, so I'm afraid all I can remember is one sentence. In addition, there are many things at the end of the year, not to mention just a few days, so this year will be the same. Then, Chinese New Year, set a goal, 65438+ 10 month ... and so on, year after year.

After the story is finished, if you see your own shadow in it and want to improve it, then today I have brought you a good prescription: micro-habit: a self-management rule that is too simple to fail. A very thin booklet can completely cure our "procrastination+lazy cancer". Stephen, the author, used to be a big slacker like us. Even a 30-minute exercise required intense ideological struggle, which has not yet been realized. What makes him a fitness expert and a famous writer now? The answer is obvious: micro habits. As the name implies, micro-habits refer to "tiny habits", that is, "habits formed by actions that are too small to fail". It doesn't sound difficult, but will it really be that magical?

Motivation and willpower

Let's see why most people "start with a bang and end up quietly". Two concepts need to be mentioned here: motivation and willpower. Do we insist on doing something by motivation or willpower? What are the connections and differences between them? We use a picture to describe:

We can see the relationship between the two. When we are full of motivation, we don't need to consume too much willpower to act. When the motivation is insufficient, we need a lot of willpower to maintain the continuation of the action.

So who is more "useful" in "persistence"

Think back to the time when you bought yoga clothes and signed up for a fitness class. Was it full of motivation? Especially when the equipment is in place and everything is ready, it is not necessary to practice for 30 minutes, and maybe it is not a problem to practice for 90 minutes at a time. So, when you come to class the next day, is the motivation still there? On the third day, the fourth day ... gradually, the power went to zero. Therefore, power is a very unreliable thing and cannot withstand any external interference. The slightest sign of trouble will make him disappear quickly. Do you still remember the reason why everyone asked for leave in yoga class? I didn't have a good rest yesterday, I was too busy at work in the morning, and even ate too much early ... The strange degree fully shows that the motivation is disappearing. It's like eating the first chocolate and the tenth chocolate, and our satisfaction is plummeting. Nowadays, many books about procrastination require us to "motivate", emphasizing that this is "the only way to promote action". In fact, motivation itself is hard to be aroused. Only when all the conditions, such as "the right place at the right time" (full of energy, healthy thinking mode and no strong temptation), are met will we succeed by motivation.

So, what is willpower? The explanation in Baidu Encyclopedia is that a person consciously determines the purpose, controls and adjusts his actions according to the purpose, overcomes various difficulties, and thus realizes the quality of the purpose. Unlike motivation, willpower can be self-reinforcing. But 1996 baumeister's carrot experiment proved that a person's willpower is limited in a certain period of time. Therefore, simply using willpower to fill the lack of motivation can not achieve the purpose of persisting in action and forming habits. At this point, "unsustainable action" seems to be the inevitable outcome. Therefore, it is time for our micro-habits to appear.

Micro habits and willpower promote each other.

In the research and analysis of self-loss (loss of willpower) in 20 10, we got five culprits of willpower loss: effort, difficulty in perception, negative emotions, subjective fatigue and blood sugar level. At the same time, to improve willpower, we need to start with motivation, willpower task training and blood sugar supplement, and supplement the missing action ability in time.

Micro-habit requires us to start with the smallest action goal. For example, do a push-up, write 50 words a day and even drink a glass of water. As long as you think about it, any small action you want to put into action can be our "micro-plan".

Micro habits are not small. If you are not sure which habit to cultivate, choose a smaller one.

Is your micro-plan incredibly small? Read it aloud. If you laugh, they are qualified.

At this time, we will go back and compare the five factors that consume willpower. Because micro-planning is "small", the efforts we need to make, the difficulty of tasks perceived by the brain, the subjective judgments we make, and the emotional and physical reactions will not change much, so that the brain is almost unconscious. Therefore, the implementation of "micro-plan" will not consume our precious willpower. Not only will it not be lost, but after we have achieved one tiny goal after another, sustained and successful stimulation will promote the growth of willpower in reverse, forming a virtuous circle of sustained action, thus achieving the ultimate goal of developing "micro-habits".

Let's cultivate micro-habits together

The book introduces eight steps to help us "get rid of laziness":

Seeing this, I found that I made a complete "micro-goal" on the New Year's Eve of 20 15, and the reason why I overfulfilled the original plan after 1 1 month was because I unconsciously followed the author's eight steps.

Last year's Eve, faced with more and more incomprehensible information, I found myself horribly far away from the outside world. People say that "a baby has a brain for three years", so my son is three years old. Should I also find my own world? So, I decided to make a change. Where to start? Let's start by understanding various articles on WeChat (micro-plan). To be honest, I think this goal is really shameful, so I just thought about it in my head and didn't write it down on paper (in theory, it should be written down). But because it is what you want to do, there is no obstacle to natural action. From reading articles to listening to micro-lessons, buying books and writing book reviews, I have been sharing micro-lessons online until now, and I feel that I am making big profits step by step (invisible return)! Moreover, these changes have become daily habits, such as reading 1-2 hours every morning, outputting at least one book review every week, reading picture books with my son and talking about my own experiences ... These scenes are unimaginable on 20 15. At the same time, in the process of self-improvement, I met many teachers and friends who like reading and communication, which gave me encouragement and motivation. And all this coincides with what we call micro-habits today.

1. Choose appropriate micro-habits and plans.

According to personal characteristics, micro-plan can be flexible, single item or multiple items. I suggest that beginners start with flexible planning, just like my original article Understanding Trends. There is neither a fixed number of articles to read in a day nor a hard target to achieve the goal. As long as you work hard and gain something every day, you will succeed.

2, tap the intrinsic value

Do one thing and cultivate it into a habit. What's your motivation? We need to dig deeper here. For example, fitness, do you want to have a healthy body, or do you want others to envy your perfect body? It can be said that different opportunities bring different emphases to micro-planning, and the starting point of facing your real needs is often the first choice for action.

3, a clear basis, included in the agenda.

Everyone will have their own basis for action before doing something. Careful observation reveals that bad habits (reasons for taking time off from yoga class) have many foundations, and the conditions for cultivating a good habit are often fragile. Then, micro-habits can naturally avoid those boring rules by not setting specific completion time rules. Moreover, all "must" and "immediately" will consume our willpower, which is not conducive to keeping the action going. The principle of "once a day, anytime" put forward by the author is easy to cultivate good habits.

4. Establish a return mechanism.

Doing a little trick every day can bring natural feedback. However, if you are lazy and can't perceive this small reward for the time being, you can use external stimuli to make the brain form a reward connection and help it gradually adapt to the "invisible reward" brought by the goal. Remember the three ways we talked about before to improve willpower? By the way, reward is the best way! In short, in the process of cultivating micro-habits, we should make ourselves happy.

5. Record the completion of tracking.

No matter what you want to record, there are only two ways: writing with a pen and digital application.

I chose an efficiency manual this year to record my own dribs and drabs. In this part, I personally suggest referring to some contents of time management and schedule, and combining done list and to do list to jointly manage planning.

6, micro start, overfulfilled

Perhaps you have been wondering from the beginning, how can a behavior with too little amount bring real results? The fact is that even if you only make a little effort every day, you will still form a habit after a long time. Then you will further develop on the basis of a good habit in the next step, so will it be far from reaching the perfect state in your heart?

Step 7 get rid of high expectations

Don't break the tiny state originally set by occasionally completing the goal or constantly "surpassing". We need to focus on sticking to our goals instead of having high expectations for the amount of tasks. Believe me, once you get into the habit, your persistence will multiply because of the occasional large-scale tasks.

8. Pay attention to the signs of habit formation.

No conflict, no sense of identity, no consideration, no fear of missing a day, normalization and boredom. Yes, only when you are bored can you show that your micro-habits have been formed.

In the past, we often jumped out of our comfort zone with brute force and challenged the limits of change. As a result, there is often no gain, but a lot of willpower reserves are destroyed. The micro-habits cultivated by micro-planning in the book let us tentatively "cross the border" at the edge of the comfort zone, unconsciously expand our comfort zone a little, and finally improve our personal ability and achieve our goals. Micro-habit is rooted in autonomy, freedom and flexibility, so it is happy and easy to realize, so it is easier to stick to it and form a good habit system.

Now I want to congratulate you, you have completely mastered the mystery of getting rid of the "half-baked" state and "taking small steps"! Then, from today on, before going to bed at night, say to yourself, "I accomplished my simple goal today." Great! "Then, I gradually fell asleep with a sense of victory.

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