Habit Forming: Laughably Small Things

We frequently talk about habits, but how do we develop them? These big undertakings take big effort through discipline and practice, right??

A habit, as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, is:?

1. A recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition.
2. An established disposition of the mind or character.
3. Customary manner or practice.

Most of us have some habits that we consider ‘bad,’ such as biting our fingernails. Other habits are more positive, like writing in a daily gratitude journal.?

Many successful leaders have important habits that help them excel through the ups and downs of their lives and careers.

I recently sat down with Jeff and Jami Downs on the Disrupt Yourself podcast to discuss the myths of habit forming, and it turns out we may have it all…wrong.?

“When we would ask people, define a habit… there are two answers that they give. It's something I repeatedly do, and it's something that comes automatically. People start to think that number one, something I repeatedly do, will become number two. And that's not the case.”

The Downs’ shared with me the importance of acknowledging the difference between “streaking” and habit.?

A streak is something you can repeatedly do, but there is no guarantee it will become automatic – and in fact, you may not want it to become automatic.?

This idea came to Jami when she wanted to continue her lifelong relationship with running, but with young children, she couldn't devote the time she used to when she ran marathons. She came across an article about ‘streak running.’

“I clicked on it out of total curiosity to find out what this story was. And it ended up being a beautiful story about a couple that had been streak running. In other words, they had been running at least one mile every day for 15 years.”

The concept clicked for Jeff when he considered his negligence in flossing. He can’t build a habit – it will never be automatic – but he can build a streak by flossing every day.

To record their definition of “streaking,” the Downs’ created three laws:

1. Make it laughably simple: Even on your worst day, you can do it
2. Keep a record: No record, no streak - this is your accountability for yourself
3. Make a community: Keep the record with others in celebration, not for accountability

Similar to James Clear’s ridiculously small goals, I love the idea of the “laughably simple” nature of the small thing you do every day, and how it supports your growth on the S Curve of Learning.?

Imagine that you’re at the launch point and everything feels insurmountable and challenging. You feel stuck, unsure how to move up this particular S Curve. Think of a laughably small thing you can accomplish every day, even at 11:00 at night.?

Each time you accomplish that thing, you get a dopamine hit – over and over again – which can help propel you into the sweet spot. Simply by changing your mindset to go streaking – a laughably small ritual each day – you can accelerate your growth.?

What did I take away from our conversation??

Repeated actions do not make something automatic – doing something consistently (a streak) may never become automatic or a habit, and that isn’t a bad thing.?

Second, set the floor, not the bar with streaking.?

When Jami and Jeff jumped to a new S Curve to write their book, they used streaking to accomplish this new learning journey. They started with the goal of writing one page every single day. They quickly learned that this floor was way too high. If the goal is too daunting, it will discourage us from starting.

The Downs reframed and committed to writing one sentence daily, which seems comically low. But, they found one sentence often led to three or four paragraphs.?

I have found the value of streaking in my own life. I currently have two streaks: doing the Come Follow Me app for 130 days, and Duolingo in Korean for 5 minutes a day for 263 days. I have no intention of breaking those streaks anytime soon.?

I would love to hear from you. What streak have you started recently??

What is something laughably small you could do each day?

What habits have you been trying to form that are better suited to be streaks?