We’ve learned a lot about healthy micro habits and how easy it is to start to do small things to improve your health. It’s easy to become excited and confident about taking your health in a new direction only to lose momentum. It’s important to realize you didn’t get unhealthy in a day, week, or month, so you likely won’t become completely healthy in a day, week, or month either. Give yourself time to adjust to the changes you’ve made and don’t give up if you don’t have immediate results.
Small Things Add Up, but Not at First
Making small changes is useful because they generally aren’t difficult to make. The benefits of micro changes are they are tiny, easy, and don’t require much effort. That means as easy as they are, they take time to compound and add up. Small things done over time generate big results, but you’ve got to allow for proper time to pass before you see changes.
It may take a month, 6 months, or more before you begin to see radical changes. That’s why it’s important to celebrate small changes along the way. You may not see clear skin the first week you wash your face, but after 60 days you may see a radiance you’ve never had before.
Set Backs Don’t Mean You Can’t Change
You can’t use the same psychology you had becoming unhealthy to become healthy. Chances are you are going to have setbacks along the way. You likely have a lot to learn when you make changes, but that’s why making small ones is safer and easier. Small micro habits allow for you to ease into a better routine and avoid feeling overwhelmed. This can reduce the likelihood of failing all together but won’t reduce the chances of a setback.
A setback offers you valuable feedback about your thoughts, the environment, or behaviors. Having a setback gives you the opportunity to evaluate what’s going on and make slight changes to get back on track. If you’ve washed your face for weeks and then forget or avoid it out of exhaustion, the feedback may indicate you need to modify your bedtime routine to accommodate time to wash your face.
Your Stamina and Experience Will Grow Over Time
Embracing a new habit will require you to grow. As you do, your stamina and personal experience will improve. What once was difficult will become second nature and help prepare you to take on bigger, more difficult, micro habits. Over time you will be able to manage more than you ever believed. All because you shifted your mindset and learned how to do small things regularly over time.