XP TRACKERHow to start small habits
Pick a habit, shrink it until it takes less than a minute, and do it right after something you already do every day. Then give yourself a moment of feeling good about it. That's BJ Fogg's Tiny Habits method in three lines, and it works because it needs almost no motivation.
Short answer: To start a small habit, shrink it to something you can do in under a minute (one page, one push-up, one glass of water), attach it to a routine you already do every day ("after I pour my coffee"), and celebrate right after so it feels good. Do the tiny version daily for one or two weeks before you make it bigger. This is the core of BJ Fogg's Tiny Habits method (2019).
Why tiny works
BJ Fogg, who runs a behaviour design lab at Stanford, sums up behaviour with three ingredients: motivation, ability and a prompt. All three have to be present at the same moment. Motivation is unreliable; it's high on Sunday night and gone by Wednesday. Ability is something you can control. When a habit is tiny, your ability to do it is so high that even low motivation is enough.
A big habit only happens on high-motivation days. A tiny habit happens on almost every day. Repetition in the same context is what builds a habit, so the tiny version wins on practice alone.
The method in three steps
- Find your anchor.An anchor is something you already do every day at a fixed moment: brushing your teeth, starting the kettle, sitting in the car, getting into bed. Choose one that happens at a sensible moment for the new habit.
- Shrink the behaviour.Make the new habit take under 30 seconds to a minute, and make it easy. "Exercise" becomes "two push-ups". "Meditate" becomes "three breaths". "Read" becomes "open the book and read one sentence".
- Celebrate right away.The moment you finish, do something that makes you feel good: a smile, a small "yes", a fist pump. Fogg argues this feeling is what wires the habit in. It feels odd at first. Do it anyway for a week and see.
Write it as a recipe: "After I [anchor], I will [tiny behaviour]. Then I [celebrate]." For more anchor ideas, see our habit stacking guide.
30 tiny habit ideas
| Area | Tiny habit | Anchor that fits |
|---|---|---|
| Fitness | 2 push-ups | After I flush the toilet in the morning |
| Fitness | 10 squats | While the kettle boils |
| Fitness | Put on workout clothes | After I get home |
| Movement | Walk to the end of the street | After lunch |
| Stretching | Touch my toes once | After I get out of bed |
| Water | Drink one glass | After I switch off the alarm |
| Food | Put one vegetable on the plate | When I serve dinner |
| Teeth | Floss one tooth | After I brush at night |
| Skin | Put on moisturiser | After I wash my face |
| Sleep | Plug the phone in outside the bedroom | After I brush my teeth at night |
| Morning | Open the curtains | After I get out of bed |
| Mind | Three slow breaths | After I sit in the car |
| Mind | Name one thing I'm grateful for | After I turn off the light |
| Journal | Write one line | After I make my evening tea |
| Reading | Read one page | After I get into bed |
| Learning | One flashcard | When I sit on the bus |
| Language | Say one new word out loud | While I brush my teeth |
| Music | Take the instrument out of its case | After I finish dinner |
| Focus | Write the first task on a sticky note | After I sit at my desk |
| Focus | Close all tabs but one | After I open my laptop |
| Work | Write tomorrow's first step | Before I close the laptop |
| Tidy | Put one thing away | When I walk into the living room |
| Dishes | Wash one dish | After I finish eating |
| Laundry | Put dirty clothes in the basket | When I get changed |
| Money | Check yesterday's spending | After I pour my coffee |
| Friends | Send one short message | When I sit on the sofa after dinner |
| Family | Ask one real question at dinner | When we sit down to eat |
| Kindness | Say thanks to one person by name | When I buy my coffee |
| Screen time | Turn the phone face down | When I start a conversation |
| Planning | Look at tomorrow's calendar | After I set my alarm |
Pick one or two that matter to you. These are examples, not a checklist.
Growing a tiny habit
Most tiny habits grow on their own. Two push-ups often turn into ten because once you're on the floor, more feels easy. Let that happen on good days, but keep the promise tiny. The tiny version is the floor, not the ceiling.
When you want to raise the floor, wait until the habit has run for a week or two without thought. Then grow in small steps: one page to three, three to five. If you start skipping, go back to the last size that worked.
Common mistakes
- "Tiny" that isn't tiny. Ten minutes of meditation is a small session but not a tiny habit for a beginner. Three breaths is.
- No anchor. A tiny habit with no trigger still depends on memory. Attach it to something that happens every day.
- Raising the bar on yourself in secret. If you only count the day when you did twenty minutes, the tiny habit has turned back into a big one.
- Skipping the celebration. It's the easiest step to drop and, in Fogg's method, one of the most useful.
What to do today
Choose one tiny habit from the table or write your own. Write the recipe on a sticky note and put it on the anchor: the mirror, the kettle, the bed. Tonight or tomorrow morning, do it once and celebrate. Tick a calendar.
In XP Tracker, you can start tiny: in onboarding you set where timed quests like Meditate start and where you want to get to, and the quest builds up from there. Gratitude asks you to name one thing. See the daily quests.
Questions people ask
How small should a small habit be?
Small enough that you could do it on your worst day in under a minute. One push-up, one page, one deep breath, floss one tooth. If you find yourself skipping it, it's still too big.
Do small habits make a difference?
On their own, a single push-up won't change your fitness. What changes is that you show up every day, and the habit usually grows. Most people do more than the tiny version on good days, and the tiny version keeps the habit alive on bad ones.
When should I make a small habit bigger?
When the tiny version happens without thinking for a week or two and you often do more anyway. Grow it in small steps, like two pages to five, and step back down if you start skipping.
What is the Tiny Habits method?
A method by Stanford researcher BJ Fogg, set out in his book Tiny Habits (2019). You write a recipe: after I [anchor], I will [tiny behaviour], and then celebrate right away to create a good feeling that helps the habit stick.
Isn't celebrating a tiny habit silly?
It can feel silly, and that's fine. Fogg's point is that a quick good feeling right after the action helps your brain link the two. It can be a fist pump, a smile or saying "nice" to yourself.
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