Making ‘Tiny Habits’ in 2021
More than a quarter of us will make New Year resolutions, with the majority of us promising to exercise more, lose weight or improve our diets. For others, 2021 will be the year they pledge to save more money, take up a new hobby, or cut down on smoking or drinking.
According to a YouGov survey, more than a quarter of us made resolutions in 2019 but, despite our good intentions, only 24% of us said we were able to keep all of them (although almost half of us managed to stick to some of them).
In fact, the majority of people will have abandoned their resolutions by the second Friday in January according to Strava. The social network for athletes coined the term Quitters Day — and next year it falls on 8 January 2021.
How can you make sure you stick to your resolutions?
Changing your habits requires a high level of motivation, but American academic BJ Fogg claims the key to success is to start small with a tiny behaviour and make it automatic before building on it. For example, if you want to floss your teeth every night, start by promising yourself to floss just one tooth. It may sound crazy, but the idea is to create a habit which can be built on slowly until you’re regularly flossing all your teeth. Other examples of Tiny Habits would be to do two push ups, pay one bill, or drink one sip of water. They key is to find something that takes less than 30 seconds to do and requires no real effort.
To help you make the new tiny habit automatic, link it to something you’re already doing — after you brush your teeth at night, promise yourself you will floss one tooth. BJ Fogg also asks suggests that you celebrate each time you do the behaviour. Something as simple as looking at yourself in the mirror, smiling and saying: “Well done”, will help to wire the flossing behaviour into your brain.
You can find out more about Tiny Habits and try it for free by clicking here or by visiting https://www.tinyhabits.com/join
If you’ve got any questions or want to get in touch, simply email info@keynshamdentalcare.co.uk, or call 0117 986 2992.
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