It's boring: good habits are not exciting; they're just good for you.You'll be more excited
about life because of your habits, but don't expect it with the behavior itself.
Warning: How to Handle Overachievement
Overachievement is one reason I love this system. We previously discussed how overachieving
your target repeatedly can create an expectation to do it consistently before your willpower
can support that much work. This is somewhat good and somewhat bad-it's good because
your brain is beginning to make it a habit, but it's bad because it raises the bar too soon,
which removes the many benefits of having mini habits.Starting small and removing the
pressure of expectations is the recipe we're using for success, and it works well, so we
want to keep it as long as possible.
Again, I'm not saying you can't do more.If you really want to run five miles today, but
your target is just to run out the front door, then that's great! Go ahead and run the
five miles, but don't change your requirement to five miles. Always be willing to meet
your tiny requirement and go back inside (you won't usually choose to go back inside,
even being completely free to do so).
If you're not overachieving right away,don't worry. My writing mini habit caught fire right
away, but it wasn't until the 57th day that I saw consistently significant overachievement
in my reading mini habit. Some mini habit sparks will take longer to ignite than others.
It mostly depends on your interest level in the habit and your perceived difficulty in
continuing beyond your initial target.