Make the target behaviour ridiculously small to start
Shrinking a new behaviour to its smallest possible form lowers the motivation threshold, making the first repetition almost effortless.
- When a client keeps setting ambitious targets and falling short
- When a client has been inconsistent with a behaviour they say they want
- When motivation is low and confidence is the real barrier
- When restarting a habit after a lapse
Clients often set ambitious targets: "I'll run 5k three times a week." When life gets busy, the high effort required means the habit is the first thing dropped. BJ Fogg's Tiny Habits research shows that making a behaviour so small it feels almost absurd removes the motivation barrier entirely.
The goal isn't to do less forever — it's to get the neural pathway established, build identity as "someone who does this", and expand naturally over time. Resistance to a tiny habit feels foolish ("I can't do one push-up?"), and this itself generates momentum.
Client wants to start meditating but always quits after a week. Coach suggests: "What if you just sat on a cushion for 60 seconds — no app, no guidance, just sit." Client laughs, does it. Two months later they're at 15 minutes daily. The tiny version built the habit identity; the rest followed.
Word-for-word phrases you can use in session.
- What's the absolute smallest version of this that would still count?
- What if we made it so easy you'd feel silly saying you couldn't do it?
Clients often laugh at the tiny version — that's the right reaction. The absurdity removes the resistance.
Source: Fogg, B.J. (2020). Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Take a goal a client is currently struggling with and apply the "2-minute rule" — what's the absolute smallest version of this behaviour they could do every day without fail? Write it down and set it as next week's target.
When any client mentions they've been inconsistent with a habit, your first question should always be: "What's the smallest version of that habit that would still feel meaningful?"
- Letting the client stay at the tiny version indefinitely — use it as a launchpad, then scale up once the habit is automatic.
- Applying it to one-off decisions rather than habits — tiny habits work for regular, recurring actions, not single events.
- Skipping the celebration moment after each tiny behaviour — Fogg's research shows that positive emotion at the moment of completion is what cements the habit.
Ready to put this into practice?
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Keep reading.
Tie new habits to existing ones (habit stacking)
Linking a new behaviour to an existing routine dramatically increases follow-through by using established neural pathways as an anchor.
Turn intentions into action with if-then planning
Specifying exactly when, where, and how a behaviour will happen — not just that it will — more than doubles the likelihood of follow-through.
Design the environment to make the right behaviour the easy one
Changing the physical and social context — removing friction from good behaviours and adding it to bad ones — is more reliable than relying on willpower or motivation.