How Tiny Daily Habits Can Completely Change Who You Are

They say all it takes is 66 days to develop a habit. You keep doing the same thing for 66 days, and voila! It becomes a part of your routine and you do it as a muscle memory.

Okay, fair enough.

But what they don’t tell you is that it might take years for you to even start that habit, forget doing it for 66 days.

I’ve been planning on working out since time immemorial. 

I know all the health benefits that come with it and how it will be good for my mental and physical health, as well as for focusing on my work and feeling energetic.

On some days, I wake up all determined, starting with the toughest challenge I can find, and I do it for 2-3 days tops. 

After that? Nope. “No can do.”

Habits.

For a person who lacks a routine and the involvement of habits for all the 26 years of her existence on this planet, it is a scary word.

Trust me, forming a habit has been one of my biggest fears somehow. 

It’s like, “Oh! I have never done this. Why should I live life waking up at a certain time, waking only because I have to…?” all the blah blah thoughts float through my head. I think my rebellious nature, too, doesn’t help much with it. 

But as I am growing older (with major back issues plus fifty other things 🙂), I realize that habits, if good, are really needed to have a content life. 

Why Is Developing Good Habits So Hard?

We’ve all been there, right? 

“Today’s the day I’ll change my life!” 

It is what you believe when you wake up, full of good intentions. Then, as if by magic, you find yourself back in your familiar surroundings, curled up on the couch for yet another episode of that Netflix series you vowed you wouldn’t watch. 

And this is the problem. You see, when you get addicted to binge-watching, it is because you slowly introduce it into your daily life. 

You come back from office? You watch something on YouTube. You’re eating? Of course, you’ll binge! Oh! It is the weekend! Yep. Gotta finish the entire series.

But when you want to develop a good habit, you just give it all in one go. That, my friend, is the problem.

What if I told you that significant, long-lasting change doesn’t always result from a massive seismic event? All of it lies in the small, daily routines—minor, essentially undetectable adjustments that, over time, might add up significantly.

You see, the reason I am unable to bring working out in my daily life is solely because I have been trying to do it all at once rather than bringing essential changes first and starting out slowly.

So now I have realized that I need to start by inculcating new actions in my daily life in a minor way. Here is where my micro habits came into the picture.

What Are Micro Habits?

Micro habits are those little behaviors that are so natural to you that they are nearly impossible to break.

Think about this: Do you want to commit to some big, hour-long workout plan from the very beginning, or just aim to put on your workout shoes and stretch? The reason micro habits actually work is they take away the pressure.

Whether athletes or entrepreneurs, successful people don’t become great overnight. That is the outcome of years of small, consistent acts that add up to significant outcomes. All the influencers you follow today and see have this grand life, but that, too, did not happen overnight.

Since this read is about habits, I will obviously quote Atomic Habits (a lot).

Over the long run, however, the real reason you fail to stick with habits is that your self-image gets in the way. This is why you can’t get too attached to one version of your identity. Progress requires unlearning. Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity.

~James Clear

The trueness of these words cannot be matched.

I remember when I was going through an immense emotional period in my life. But I did not seek help as I am a very “strong” person. I could not bring myself to take therapy until things got way worse.

But then, when I did, it slowly became a habit (finally a good one) and brought a lot of good reflective changes. I started journaling and even continued to channel my emotions better.

I consciously started keeping my anger to myself, reflecting upon it before I reacted, and now, I have become way more sorted because I chose these things.

So, see, these are micro habits. Small habits that you actually can change. It can be as small as waking up and having a glass of water. 

The only catch?

You have to do them consistently.

5 Micro Habits I Have Adapted That Changed My Life (& Can Change Yours Too!)

As I mentioned earlier, being a rebel, I never liked following any chain of thoughts where I was made to do something.

So what did I do? I started talking myself into the daily good habits that were just small changes. I am not a know-it-all, and no, I haven’t figured it all out. I won’t pretend to have done that either.

But these small habits made a big difference in my life. I was a lazy person, and now I am still lazy but more active, and I handle my freelance work easily while having an extensive 12-hour job.

Hence, I am sharing my daily good habits so that you can learn and include them in your routine as well.

1. Morning Stretching Routine

As I mentioned before, I was never a gym person. Working out seemed so dull and not rewarding at all. But I knew I needed to do something to get my body moving. So, I started with just a two-minute stretch every morning.

It felt like such a tiny commitment that I couldn’t talk myself out of it. And then, over time, I found myself just adding stretches and movements into the mix naturally.

Now, it’s a 10-minute routine that I can’t imagine starting my day without.

2. The 5-Minute Rule for Work

The first thing I do every morning is sit down at my desk and work on what I call my ‘Most Important Thing,’ or ‘MIT,’ for just five minutes.

That’s it-five minutes!

It sounds ridiculously easy, and that’s the point. Once those five minutes are up, I’m often in flow, and I end up working much longer. But even if I stop after five, I still win the day because I started.

That’s what micro habits do: they help you overcome the inertia of not starting.

3. One-Sentence-a-Day Journals

I have always been fascinated with the concept of a diary, but somehow, it did sound overwhelming to think about writing full pages every day.

Yes, even though I am a writer, sometimes writing for your own self becomes more exhausting than a job. So, I started by jotting down just one sentence every night.

Some days, deep and reflective. Most days, just like, “Today was fine.” But that little act keeps me connected to my thoughts and feelings; sometimes, one sentence leads to two or even a paragraph.

4. Do What You Love

Make sure to have the habit of spending time with yourself. Just yourself.

I was someone who always needed people around me just to feel better and occupied. But slowly, I became someone who realized how important it is to spend time with myself.

Read if you want to, paint if you want to, take pottery classes or just anything that makes you feel better about yourself.

Can’t do normal workouts? No worries. Even I cannot. So, I just put on some music that I love and dance to it. Start with just one song and then progress from there. Trust me; this will shift the gears and change you in so many ways that you’ll thank yourself for it.

5. Having Water Before Tea

I really love having my morning tea. I mean, the taste of ginger and the aroma…ah. How can anyone wake up before having a cup or even a mug full of tea themselves?

But indeed, hydration is the key, right? I genuinely used to forget to drink water for the entirety of the day, and I am not kidding.

But then, I made a rule for myself that every time I crave a cup of tea, I must drink a glass of water first.

It is just a tiny shift in habit, but I noticed I get more energized and refreshed when I start the day this way. And it is a good, easy victory that makes me feel like I am doing something healthy for myself.

In the End

I understand if you’re skeptical. It’s difficult to think such insignificant deeds can actually make a difference. But momentum is the key. Little habits begin to multiply once they are established.

Micro habits are great because they have a cascading effect. Before you realize it, you’ll be able to do even difficult tasks easily.

I’d like to end it with a quote from the Atomic Habits: 

It is easy to get bogged down trying to find the optimal plan for change: the fastest way to lose weight, the best program to build muscle, the perfect idea for a side hustle. We are so focused on figuring out the best approach that we never get around to taking action. As Voltaire once wrote, ‘The best is the enemy of the good.’

~James Clear

It doesn’t matter if you fail, but you need to get back up again to take the tiniest of steps. Trust me, you’ll already feel like a winner.

Everything starts somewhere. Start yours by having one glass of water and mark it as an achievement.

I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me. I will be back with another story and another read. Until then, goodbye.