Mimic but Modify

If you're trying to start a good habit, here's a trick to help you get it going with less effort. Chances are you'll also keep up with it for longer.

Mimic what you're trying to do, but modify it in a way that makes it super easy.

This is a technique that's used in habit formation all the time. They say if you want to start doing something regularly, you want to start by making the habit super small and stupidly simple. So small and simple that you can't not do it.

I learned this method from CrossFit. When I was trying to do a push up, I went to go down on my knees to make it easier. Though that is a decent modification, the instructor had me instead used a box to push up on, explaining that with that, I'd be able to make my legs straight which more accurately mimicked the movement I was trying to do. It was the same when I was doing rope climbs. I was working on my arm strength by lowering myself down tot he floor and back up again. But I'd begin directly under the rope which meant I came down (and thus back up) at an angle. The coach told me to reposition myself so that when I came down I'd be directly under the rope, that way when I climbed back up, I'd be doing it with the rope perpendicular to the ground instead of angled, because that's how you climb up the rope. It all came down to training the muscles that I'd be using to do the desired movements instead of modifying in ways that trained different muscles, which would make it hard to do the desired movements.

But this applies to more than just CrossFit. When I was starting that habit of writing everyday, I had to goal to write three pages in my morning pages. But when I got started, I made the goal of one page until that was a regular habit and I could easily add on. I also was establishing a bedtime routine but was living two different places and wasn't able to do the same routine. So I found ways of mimicking the routine in a new place so that I still did elements of it rather than not at all. Sometimes I can't go on the full walk ai want to in the morning, so I'll just walk around the block. Or when I couldn't get to a yoga class, but aimed to practice everyday, I'd roll out my mat and do a few things on there for a few minutes so that I still got on the floor, did a little downward dog and could so I didn't let go of my habit.