The Best Metaphor for Habits

Last year I was speaking about habits, and I heard myself saying this:

"If you plant the right seed in the right spot, it will grow without further coaxing."

The audience probably wasn't surprised, but I was. For me, this was a new way to describe my Tiny Habits method. On the stage at that moment, I had to continue my talk, but I made a mental note to come back to this "seed" idea later.

So I did. And today, I believe this is the best metaphor for creating habits.

The "right seed" is the tiny behavior that you choose. The "right spot" is the sequencing -- what it comes after. The "coaxing" part is amping up motivation, which I think has nothing to do with creating habits. In fact, focusing on motivation as the key to habits is exactly wrong.

Let me be more explicit: If you pick the right small behavior and sequence it right, then you won't have to motivate yourself to have it grow. It will just happen naturally, like a good seed planted in a good spot. (Unfortunately, this is also the process for bad habits -- they start tiny.)

The metaphor hints at another insight, which some don't believe, but I do: You can use the Tiny Habits method to create many new behaviors at once. And, in fact, I believe you should work on multiple habits at once because that's how you learn what matters.

There's a reason you work on three new behaviors rather than just one.

When you focus on three new behaviors, you learn how habits work. You get more insights about human nature. In contrast, focusing on just one behavior gives insight mostly into that one behavior, but not the bigger picture.

And what matters is the bigger picture. When you learn the skills of creating habits, you can use them over and over. And not just in your personal life. I hope you will apply the skills in your workplace, so you can design better products, programs, and services. Success for most businesses depends on creating habits in customers. I believe the best approach is Tiny Habits.

"If you plant the right seed in the right spot, it will grow without further coaxing."