Building New Habits By Celebrating Small Wins

Discover how celebrating small wins can rewire your brain for success! In this mindfulness activity, we explore the science behind habit formation—how tiny victories release dopamine, strengthen neural pathways, and make progress feel rewarding.

Transcript

Hi, And welcome. Today we are going to be using a strategy we use all the time in coaching, And that is celebrating small wins in order to build on momentum of any new goals or habits that you're trying to break. With that, We are working with the brain instead of against it by celebrating small wins. We're helping our brain go from autopilot to active recognition. And in the process, We are going to get a little bit of dopamine, Right, By celebrating those small wins. Are going to strengthen those neural pathways in our mind because the more attention we give to things, The more time we spend reflecting and just recognizing what we're already doing, That helps build the pathway for our mind to build a stronger habit. So if you're ready, Grab a journal. If you want to just close your eyes and reflect, That's fine too, But I'm going to go ahead and go through a few questions. Okay. First question I have for you, And I want you thinking about a specific habit that you're working on building, Or maybe one that you're working on breaking. But my first question was what is one win I experienced today or this week. And remember, This can be a small hobbit. It could be a small step forward. Maybe you just took time today to think about it, Right? Everybody's doing that right now. If you're on this video, You are taking time to think about your habit. That is a small win. So what is one small win that you have from today or this week? Personally, For me, I am working on building meditation into my routine. And so my small win and talk about small, But I have been able to do three days in a row of meditation. Those goals, Those meditations have been like one to three minutes, But it is building on that momentum, Right? So I'm going to celebrate it. And I'm going to say that I have done one to three minute videos for three days in a row. That's my small win. If you're ready, My next question for you was why was this win meaningful to me? When in doubt, When you are trying to get the motivation for a new goal or habit, Ask yourself why. The why goes a little bit deeper into like, Why am I bothering doing this, Right? Typically our brains are always gonna go with the road of least resistance. So why are you putting the work in? Why does it matter for you now that you are taking this time to build a new habit? So go ahead and just think about that why for a moment. For me, With that meditation example, I want a peaceful life. And meditation just helps me set my intentions for the day and center myself. So for me, That why is just having that time of peace and to kind of put me first for a little bit. So again, The question was, Why was this win meaningful to me? The next question I have, If you're ready, Is how did this win contribute to my habit or progress? So how is that helping my overall goal or habit that I'm trying to form? Like I said in my last question, Yes, Meditation is the habit I'm building, But going deeper than that, I just want to live a life of peace, Right? So how is doing these meditations every day helping me build that? So we're going back to the how. If you're ready, And I know I'm going a little bit quick with these, So please pause, Rewind as often as you need to. But if you are ready, My question for you is what strengths or qualities helped me achieve this win? So thinking through this, When I'm thinking about the strengths or qualities that got me to do my meditation this morning, I would say that I did a habit stack. So I have been really good about doing stretches every morning. So since I've already formed that habit, All I did was add another habit on top of it by adding minute of meditation afterwards, Right? So what were the things that helped set up success for you? Another example for me is I set the intention the night before. That was really helpful for me to just keep it in the front of my mind, Kind of like what we're doing right now is we are keeping our habit in the front of our mind by talking about it and reflecting about it. Having a way that I was accountable. So I have a little checklist when I do goals, And that just keeps it, Again, At the front of my mind. It's something to check off on. It's always nice to have a little check mark, And that also creates dopamine, Which is, Again, Strengthening that neural pathway, Right? Our brain is gonna do what feels good. And so the more we can celebrate small wins, The more we can do little things like marking it off, Talking about it, That is gonna help strengthen our mind with that neural pathway to want to do the habit more often. Okay, Last question I have for you is how can I build on this win moving forward? So think about what set you up for success today. Why did you do it? Why did you do that small step, That small habit? And what can I do to either build off of that, Repeat that, And just add to it so that I can continue to have these good positive moments? So for example, Logging into this video. Right? This is helping us make it at the front of our mind. It's helping us celebrate the positive. It's strengthening the neuropathways because we're going to do what feels good. And we are just taking some time to recognize our hard work. But what else can you do to help set yourself up for success? We've talked about accountability. Hobbit stocking. But maybe you have something else that's in your mind that would really help set yourself up for success. I know having visuals for me can really help. So maybe setting an alarm, Putting it somewhere where I see it, Right? So for example, If I want to do meditation every day, Maybe I put a pillow out onto the living room floor. So I remember every time I see it, Oh, I'm supposed to do that today, Right? It's just bringing it to the front of my mind because object permanence is a real thing. I'm not thinking about it all the time. And so how do I bring it into my mind more often? Okay, So I'm gonna go ahead and read through the questions one more time, But they were, What was one win I experienced today or this week? Remember, We're thinking small. Why was this win meaningful to me? When in doubt, We always go back to the why. How did this win contribute to my habit or progress? So we're thinking about that bigger picture. What strengths or qualities helped me achieve this win? And how can I build on this when moving forward? I really want us thinking a little bit longer about that last question. So really before you. End your reflection time for today. Really think about what is a couple of things I can do to help set myself up for success for tomorrow. Okay, I appreciate you all. Thank you for coming, Doing this quick reflection. And just remember, You can do positive reinforcement for yourself whenever it makes sense for you. So anytime you do a small win, Pause, Recognize it, Think about what you're doing to build off of that habit. And that will just continue to build that neural pathway to remind us it feels good to build this new habit and that we're doing it for a specific purpose. Okay, That's all I have for today. I appreciate you taking a little bit of time with me. And I look forward to talking to you all again soon. Bye.