The Power of Micro Habits

If you struggle with introducing new habits, micro habits will change everything.

This may sound too simple to be true, but micro habits are indeed that powerful. In this post, I’ll share how embracing micro-habits helped me change my life and how you can do the same.

All my life I struggled with exercise, and I had difficulty maintaining other positive habits such as reading, journaling, and eating a balanced diet.

The pattern was the same. I would start every year, but after a couple of weeks, I would just drop the habit. This cycle would repeat over the years.

I first learned about micro habits when I read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear.

His insights on micro habits helped me build routines that actually stuck. For the first time, I was able to start small, stay consistent, and create lasting change.

What Are Micro Habits?

Micro habits are small and easy actions that lead to big changes over time. You do not need any drastic lifestyle changes, or any big resolutions, all you need to do is perform small consistent actions every day.

Here are a couple of examples of micro habits:

Reading 1 page of a book every evening
Writing down 3 things you are grateful for in the morning
Doing 10 pushups every morning

These actions are small yet they over time give great results. The point of these small actions is to build a system and get 1% better every day.

Reading 1 page may seem like such a small task that will not bring you any benefits. But that is 30 pages in 30 days. And as you slowly increase the number of pages, the results over time get bigger and bigger.

Why Micro Habits Work?

They work because they are easy. It is not 1 hour of exercise in the gym or the task of reading 5 books this month.

You only need 10 minutes every day to accomplish them. And when something is not difficult to do, you are much more likely to do it. Consistency beats intensity.

The point is to introduce a habit. To train your mind to accept this new habit and to do it without questioning. To start exercising every morning without thinking about it.

The same way you brush your teeth every morning.

You just get up and get that done. You do not think about whether you want to do it. You just do it.

When you start repeating these small micro habits, you will at first still struggle a bit.

But as months go by, things start to change. And then you will wake up one day and realize that the habit has just become a part of your routine.

You no longer have to force yourself to do it.

You just do it.

The Problem With Grand Resolutions

At the beginning of every year, you set ambitious goals: read 50 books, and exercise for 1 hour every day.

You manage to be consistent for a couple of weeks and then you stop. You repeat these cycles several times throughout the year and get no results.

Why?

Because the goal you set is too high. Because it is easy to get discouraged when you realize that you cannot keep up with these new habits long-term.

How To Start Micro Habits

All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision.
But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger.
James clear, atomic habits

There are a couple of important steps when you introduce a new micro habit into your life.

Make the habit easy

You need to make the habit very easy and keep it easy so that you can do it daily without any major effort on your part.

That means that you start with reading a paragraph every night or doing 5 pushups every morning. Then you start slowly increasing the number of pushups and the number of paragraphs you need. But still, you keep the new micro habit easy.

Here is my example when I started exercising every morning. I started with a 5-minute cross-fit exercise. I did this for a whole month before increasing. Even now I do the most 15 minutes each morning. Why?

Because I know that if I make this habit too difficult, I will not do it. I have noticed great results with just this one tiny habit because I do it consistently month after month. And results add up.

I did the same with strength exercises. I started with only 2 exercises each morning. Then I slowly increased the number of sets. And now I do 15-20 minutes of strength exercise. I alternate it with cross-fit or walks.

And even doing this little, I see great results. My whole body is stronger, I feel better and more energized.

But more importantly, I introduced the habit of morning exercise. I no longer question myself in the morning if I should do it.

It has become a habit.

Find a good time for your new micro habit

For years, I struggled with exercise simply because I never set a specific time for it. I’d tell myself I’d do it later, but as the day went on, I kept postponing it—until I eventually forgot or felt too tired to bother.

With difficult habits, I’ve learned that the longer you delay them, the harder they become. That’s why my biggest tip is to tackle them first thing in the morning—before breakfast, before work, before excuses set in.

Doing this has made a huge difference for me. It stops procrastination in its tracks, gives me an early sense of accomplishment, and helps me start the day on a positive note. And over time, as I’ve gotten stronger, I’ve even started looking forward to it—something I never thought possible.

Common Mistakes To Avoid

There are several common mistakes that can prevent you from reaping the benefits of micro habits.

You started too many micro habits at once. This means that instead of spending 5-10 minutes doing them, you are spending 1 hour on all your new micro habits.
You did not find the right place or time for your newly introduced micro habit.
You increased the difficulty of the micro habit too fast. While it is still not part of your daily routine.
You expect instant results: forming habits is a long process. You need to be consistent for at least 3-6 months to reach a point where your new habit is firmly in your life. You also need to wait to see any results. These are small actions, and you need time to notice real results.

Conclusion

I know these small gains can feel almost meaningless at first. You might wonder, Will a 2-minute workout really make a difference? But the power of micro habits is that they add up faster than you think.

Here’s what happens when you stay consistent for just one month:

Reading one page a day means finishing 30 pages in a month. Double that to two pages, and by the next month, you’ll have read 60 more.
Starting with 1,000 steps a day and adding 100 steps daily means you’ll have walked 77,500 steps in 30 days.
A 15-minute workout every morning adds up to 105 minutes of exercise every week—that’s over 7 hours a month!