想养成每天写文字的习惯，加上老爸的推荐，又可顺便阅读原版英文书，花了半天翻完了这本书。

整理文中干货如下。

如何去做？
Mini Habits—Eight Small Steps To Big Change

Step 1: Choose Your Mini Habits & Habit Plan

微习惯数量最好不超过3个

There  is a willpower cost for having to do a certain number of things every  day. Two or three mini habits will be the sweet spot for many people.

微习惯执行计划的选择，要结合自身情况

日计划 周计划 月计划 次数等

Step 2：use the why drill on each mini habit

问自己为什么要选择这个微习惯，刨根寻底地问自己。听从自己的内心，而不是因外界看法或潮流。

If  you try to change based on another person or society's opinion, I think  you know what will happen, but I'll say it anyway—massive internal  resistance.

Drills  drill. That's what they do. And I call the following the “why drill”  because the simple question “why?” is the best way to drill down to the  core of anything.

Once  you've listed your habits, identify why you want them. But don't stop  there. Ask why again. Continue to ask why until it becomes circular and  repetitive, which means that you've found the core.

Step 3：define your habit cues

The two common habit cues are time-based and activity-based.

In a time-based cue, you'll say, “I'm going to exercise MWF at 3 PM.”

In an activity-based cue, you'll say, “I'm going to exercise MWF 30 minutes after I take my last bite at lunch.” 

What is important is that you choose, and  choose firmly. Not making a decision here is a big mistake, but before  you lock down your choice, there is one more option that might surprise  you. It is my preferred choice for all of my current mini habits.  Freedom-based, Non-specific Habit Cues (General Mini Habits)

I write at any and all times of day—whatever fits my schedule best.

The additional pressure to perform the task on time increases willpower cost.

Step 4：creat your reward plan

It sounds lame to look at checks and feel good, but my brain knows exactly what each of those marks means.

My rule of thumb is to keep myself happy while doing this. I know when  I'm nearing burnout, and that’s when I'll take a rewarding break.

Step 5：write everything down

Writing  something down instantly elevates it above all of your other thoughts.

I  recommend that you check off your success before you go to sleep. If  you check off your task early in the day, the sense of completion might  make you feel less motivated to do “bonus reps.” Also, it's a good habit  to check it off before bed so that you don't forget.

Physically making a check mark makes your success feel more tangible  than digital tracking does. Additionally, if you put it in a prominent  place where you'll see it often, it's going to make you mindful of your  mini habits, your progress, and your success. Don't underestimate the  impact of this!

Step 6：think small

We're giving ourselves low-willpower tasks, but with high frequency. It  takes very little willpower to do one push-up (perhaps just a sliver  more than you'd think though—starting something truly is the hardest  part, especially in regards to willpower).

Over  time, this frequent repetition of forcing ourselves to perform  achievable tasks makes our willpower stronger. It’s practice.

How  can this practice of doing seemingly meaningless quantities of work pay  off with real results? There are two ways that it pays off.

A. Mini Habits Bonus Reps: Seeing yourself take action is more inspiring and motivating than anything else.

Habits—once you're fully motivated to do something, you don't need willpower.

Mini habits aren't anti-motivational,  they generate motivation. I failed with getting motivated first for ten  years, so I'm very familiar with it and slightly grumpy about it.  Whenever I do any mini habit, I almost always do more.

B. The Mini Habits Safety Net (developing actual mini habits):

I know the biggest hurdle for some people is going to be patience.

You  don't want to be the person writing 50 words a day—you want to catapult  yourself into 4,000 words a day and get to your dreams as fast as  possible. I have good news for you. If you can write 4,000 words a day,  do it. With mini habits, there is no upper limit. Knock yourself out and  overwork yourself. As long as you can meet your mini requirement the  next day too, you're fine.

Step7：meet your schedule&drop high expectations

Expectations  are a tricky thing in life. It's helpful to have generally high  expectations for yourself, because it increases your ceiling. In other  words, if you don't believe you can be in good shape, you never will be  (as shown in the self-efficacy study). It's not that belief increases  your ability to do things—it increases your willingness to try. If you  never try to get in good shape, it's not going to happen!

Refuse bigger targets—you can do more with smaller ones.

Step 8:watch for signs of habit,but be careful not to jump the gun

Signs  that it's habit:

•No resistance: it feels easier to do the  behavior than not to do it.

•Identity: you now identify with the  behavior and would feel completely confident saying, “I read books,” or  “I'm a writer.”

• Mindless action: you'll engage in the behavior  without making an executive decision. You won't think, Ok, I've decided  to go to the gym. You'll just gather your things and go because it's  Tuesday, or because it feels like it's time.

•You don't worry  about it: starting out, you might worry about missing a day or quitting  early, but when a behavior is habit, you know that you'll be doing it  unless there's an emergency.

•  Normalization: habits are  non-emotional. You're not going to be excited that “you're really doing  it!” once it is habit. When a behavior makes the transition to normalcy,  it's habit.

•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.

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.

If  you overachieve, that's great. If not? That's still great. Not just ok,  but great. We celebrate all progress, because it's not easy to change  your brain. But then again, it is kind of easy to do it this way, isn't  it? Compared to wrestling with some massive goal and running on  willpower fumes, this is a relative cakewalk with better results.

Eight mini habit rules

1. Never, Ever Cheat

the  first,most common way to cheat is to give yourself a mini habit such as  one push-up per day,but secretly require that you do more than the  single push-up.

It  doesn't matter that your goal is small. You're training your brain for  success and building up a smaller version of what you hope to accomplish  someday (and depending on your eagerness, someday could be very soon!).

Expect little and you'll have the hunger to do more.

2. Be Happy With All Progress

Being  happy with small progress is different from having low standards.  There's a quote by Bruce Lee that sums it up: “Be happy, but never  satisfied.”

Mini  habits are pretty simple brain trick at the core, but also a life  philosophy that values starting, letting action precede motivation, and  believing that small steps can accumulate into giant leaps forward. When  you complete a mini habit, it means your mini man is dancing—cheer him  on, because he's starting your personal growth party! Celebrate all  progress.

3. Reward Yourself Often, Especially After a Mini Habit

When  you complete a Mini Habit and reward yourself—whether it's with food, a  fun night out, or a monologue in the mirror about how amazing you  are—your reward is going to pay you back by encouraging you to perform  your mini habit again.

A  perfect behavior would reward you now and later. Since most healthy  behaviors (like gnawing on raw broccoli) offer limited reward now and  greater long-term rewards, it's helpful to attach some form of  encouragement to the activity in the early stages. Later, when you  notice how great you look and feel, you can assume it's from the  broccoli and smile.

Starting  is the hardest part, both in the moment and in the early days of  habit-building. Initially, you will see limited results. After a hard  workout you will feel sore, but look in the mirror and see no change.  After eating broccoli, you will feel about the same. After writing on  day one, you will not have a full book. But when you do these things  over the long haul, you can end up with a fit and healthy body and  several full-length novels.

4. Stay Level-headed

The  difference between winners and losers is that the losers quit when  things get boring and monotonous. It's not about motivation, it's about  leveraging and conserving your willpower to form lifelong good habits.

The  calm mindset is the best mindset for building habits because it's  steady and predictable. You may get excited as you make progress, but  don't let that excitement become your basis for taking action. This shift to a reliance on motivation/emotions is what foils many personal  development plans!

5. If You Feel Strong Resistance, Back Off & Go Smaller

Let's  picture it. You're sitting down, and you want to exercise, but you  really don't feel like it. There's intense resistance. What do you do?  In this scenario, you don't want to wrestle your brain if you can coax  it into doing things your way. Suggest progressively smaller and smaller  tasks until the resistance you feel is minimal.

If  you think this strategy sounds absolutely, completely ridiculous and  stupid, it's because you think you can do more. Your pride is telling  you that you're better than having to break tasks down into small steps.  But every giant accomplishment is made of very small steps anyway, and  to take them one at a time like this is not weak, but precise. Before I  did the first push-up of the One Push-up Challenge, I felt “above” doing  it. I thought that one push-up was worthless (because it's about like  clapping my hands as far as exercise goes). But when it helped me  exercise for 30 minutes, it changed my mind. So try this out, and see  for yourself how you can be nearly unstoppable with this strategy.

6. Remind Yourself How Easy This Is

When  you look at your mini task and feel resistance, you're probably not  thinking about how easy it is. When I was a month into my mini habits, I  felt strong resistance to reading my two pages late one night. I was  thinking of how much I had read the day before, and assumed that I  needed to replicate that. I had to remind myself that the requirement  was still just two pages.

Mini  habits make you believe that adding healthy behaviors is easy. Even if  you're skeptical now, you'll have no choice but to believe when it starts happening.

7. Never Think A Step Is Too Small

Every big project is made of small steps just like every organism is made  from microscopic cells.taking small steps keeps you in control over your  brain.

8. Put Extra Energy and Ambition Toward Bonus Reps, Not A Bigger Requirement

If  you're anxious to make big progress, pour that energy into your bonus  reps. Bigger requirements look good on paper, but only action counts. Be  the person with embarrassing goals and impressive results instead of  one of the many people with impressive goals and embarrassing results.

There’s  a quote in The New Radicals’ song, You Get What You Give, that says,  “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

看书不是重点，关键在于行动

一开始便对作者提出的观点持相信态度，觉得不妨看一看，作者是怎么从mini habits中获益的，试一试也没什么害处。前文讲的大脑工作原理、驱动力与意志力、微习惯的策略等等内容采取一目十行方式，快速阅读，终点阅读了如何执行及注意事项。

目前，自己定的微习惯有三个：

1.两趟拳（起床后、晚睡前）

2.每日100字（晚睡前）

3.kindle看英文小说，每日10%进度（晚睡前）

现在来看的话，根据上文作者列举的习惯的特征标志，第三项早已成为习惯，修改为：

3.早上用收音机收听新闻

用手机（ios系统）APP：Productive记录，目前觉得很方便。

其实没有看此书，自己也下定决心要养成几个好习惯。但不妨试试这本书的方法，看看如何。在看这本书之前，定下“每天用kindle看英文小说，每日10%进度”的要求，其实每天都超额完成了。看这本书，发现原来自己碰巧已经在使用微习惯的方法了。

其他

书中，作者大量引用脑科学及行为学方面的研究，甚至《老子》以及《孙子兵法》相关内容。从学术角度来看，是比较严谨的。

写作方面，自己也学习到不少。如何引经据典，如何用简单的语言表达清楚自己的观点，比喻手法的使用如何使文章易懂吸引人等等。

看得出，作者涉猎广泛，中国经典都阅读，值得学习啊。中国人完整看完《老子》以及《孙子兵法》恐怕也不多吧。

书籍，如果是英文的，建议还是看英文原著，推荐以自身能力去体味。另外，出版的翻译书籍，往往有删减。

英文内容引用：Guise S. Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results.  2013.

书中相关网址：http://minihabits.com/