The three tiny habits is not working as well as we'd hoped. The concept is a good one, to take on just 3 new habits every week and make sure that they are tiny. But you have to remember them.
We all know that new habits are difficult to establish and so the idea is that if they are tiny, like flossing one tooth, then you will be able to do it successfully. The successful feeling (and the associated brain chemicals) will motivate you to continue the tiny habit and perhaps build on it for the following week and floss two teeth.
Our research team has been applying this technique to 3 tiny habits that are tied to 3 topics:
Topic #1 Eat something (or more of something) you should be eating but are not.
Topic #2 Stop eating something (ore eat less of something ) you shouldn't eat
Topic #3 Move more.
These 3 topics are part of the healthy lifestyle change we are encouraging and not associated with a temporary diet or weight loss strategy. In fact, for this project, we are not even focusing on weight. Our goal is have 21 Y's for "Yes I did all 3 habits every day this week" instead of N's.
We have gotten a lot of wonderful suggestions on how to do 3 Tiny Habits around healthy behavior while living on campus and eating in the cafeteria. For instance:
#1 Grab a piece of fruit instead of the desert.
#2 Substitute another serving of vegetables instead of the potatoes.
#3 Always walk on the sidewalks.
The problem is once the 3 tiny rules for this week our decided on Sunday, they can be forgotten by Tuesday.
We're looking for a way to keep the topics front and center all week long and it looks like it will have to be a Mobile App. I have found that students will sometimes come to class without pencils, paper or even the text book, but the phone is always handy.
I'll keep you posted on the mobile app but if you have any success with the 3 Tiny Habits, please let me know. Also if you want to read more about the 3 Tiny Habits and the psychologist at Stanford who created this idea click here.
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