I have been using my Audible subscription to try to find self-help books, with mixed success. One of the best finds I had was Dr Rebecca Ray’s “Breakthrough: Overcome Self-Sabotage, Achieve More, Be Your Best Self” podcast series. I listened to the ten episodes several times, and it helped me gain some insight into my tendency to self-sabotage and ways to break the cycle.

The other book I found that has had a huge impact is “Tiny Habits” by BJ Fogg, PhD. He provides not only insight into how habits develop, but also tools for making habits that stick. Some of it is stuff I knew, some of it is stuff I subconsciously did, and some of it was completely new but made absolute sense. I have been using the “Tiny Habits” steps to incorporate and build some new habits into my life in a way that they are sustainable.

The first one is “Doing yoga every morning before I start my day.” I have been having low back pain recently, and I know it’s partially because I have lost a lot of my flexibility and strength. The fact that I have gained weight hasn’t helped any, either. So a morning habit of doing yoga seemed like a good way to help increase my movement and improve my overall wellbeing.

I had tried to do this before, but I got overwhelmed with the duration and sequence that I was trying to do. I don’t have the strength to do Downward Dog very well anymore, but every flow I looked at had DD early in the sequence and held it for longer than I knew I am able to. I felt incapable and defeated, and I quit before I could rebuild my strength to where I was able to do DD.

As part of the “Tiny Habits” process, though, I have been able to scale it back from “do a half hour yoga program every morning” to “build the habit of doing some yoga every morning” – even if it’s just 10 rounds of Cat and Cow. Every morning, before I start my day, I am doing something. I have found a new yoga sequence that has moves that I am capable of doing now, and I am able to break the sequence down into tiny segments. If I only do one segment, that’s fine – it’s keeping the habit alive. If I get done with one segment and want to do the next one, great! That’s a bonus! The thing right now is setting the habit to where it’s second nature to do yoga every morning, then I will build on that to do longer sequences every morning.

This morning I started leaving my bedroom before doing my sequence, and it felt weird – something in the back of my mind said “I’m forgetting something… Oh, yeah!” and I did 10 Cat/Cows. I felt good that I remembered and that I did my habit, instead of blowing it off with “Eh, I’ll do it later” or “I’ll do it tomorrow, it’s no big deal” like I had done in the past. That’s a new experience for me, and I’m excited about it!

I’m using the process to build other habits into my life – things I have wanted to do for years and have tried to do with limited/no success. Moving more. Reading regularly. Writing. Ways to insert small changes that will build into habits that are sustainable. Foundations that I can build on and expand.

“After I get dressed in the morning, I will do 10 Cat/Cows.”

“After I get in bed in the evening, I will read or write for 10 minutes.”

“While I wait for my dinner to cook in the microwave or on the stove, I will walk in place.”

“After I finish work for the day, I will put on my gym shoes and walk on the treadmill for 5 minutes.”

Tiny habits. Tiny steps.