Let us start with new year resolutions… Each mission in Kosma equips with a new habit to live life to the fullest, but building habits is not something new to you, right? In fact, it would be hard to find a person who has never tried (and failed) to build new habits!

We wish nothing short of greatness from ourselves but when it comes to making it happen, somehow we fall short, again and again. Figures vary but a general finding across studies is that more than 70% of people give up on their new year resolutions before 6 months.

The story goes something like this: you want to adopt that killer exercise plan, the ideal skincare routine, read more books, and whatnot. You go full throttle with excitement and amazing results start showing, but then a long day at work happens and you miss your habit. You act wise and compassionate for yourself, so you own today’s miss. You tell yourself that “I deserve this break,” So far, so good, but you spend the day over cheat meals and binge-watching a new series.

The next day comes but you snooze off the early morning alarm since you stayed up late checking social media last night. With this, your exercise time is lost. By the time you are up, it’s already late, so you rush to work. You tell yourself, “It’s fine; I am resilient, and I will get back stronger tomorrow!” Next thing you know, it has been three months since you switched back to the old ways and find yourself in the same old position looking for a new routine for a better life. A second thought comes to your mind, “Let’s enjoy this year and change myself next year.” But as they say, tomorrow never comes.

The good news is that you are not alone, and the solution is small, REALLY SMALL!

The Greatness is the Problem

Maya Angelou once said, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” This is also true for how we make ourselves feel. And while our goals feel good in dreams, working to achieve them can be painful.

Behavioral scientist BJ Fogg has researched habit formation for years, and he has learned that emotions trump all other factors when it comes to adopting new habits. If you associate negative emotions with your new habit, you are highly likely to give up. Solution? Flip the emotion.

Associate positive emotions with your new habit. Make it so easy that you always win, and when you win, your body releases a bunch of mood-boosting hormones like dopamine, serotonin, etc. (the same mix that is released upon the intake of sugar and drugs like cocaine). Result? The good feeling slowly gets your mind addicted to the habit, and you want to return the next day and the day after. If you stick to this formula, after a year you will be surprised to see that you are already your dream person.

Size Matters

Here’s another perspective. Say you set a goal to lose 20 pounds weight in 6 months. You stick to a strict diet and workout routine and weigh yourself after one week. If you don’t see any difference, does it mean that your routine is not working?  Nope! The problem is that you are probably measuring on a scale that tells you weights only up to one decimal place and your progress is smaller than that. What should change then? The size. Try a smaller scale.

Organizational theorist Karl Weick studied workers in corporate environments to learn about success. He noticed that the individuals and teams that had broken down their big goals into small wins and celebrated every achievement were not only more satisfied but also more successful. While the others made their work a drag towards one big daunting goal, the smarter teams broke their big goals into small steps and focused on one step at a time. Once a goal was achieved, they celebrated the win, and this got them even more excited for the next step. Success breeds success!

Karl defines a small win as “a concrete, complete, implemented outcome of moderate importance.” In Kosma, as you adopt new habits, you are saying yes to a life of order and reducing the chaos, one step at a time. This takes away the fear of failure as it’s easy to get back up and progress becomes fun.

For now, your small steps could be just a sip of water, three lines in your gratitude journal, or simply a deep breath. But the magic lies in the size of these habits.