Tiny Habits for Leaders: Make Change Stick
Do you ever find it hard to build good habits - even the ones you really want?
There is a gentler way to think about habits to sustain change. Much of what we do each day follows familiar routines. In steady settings, a large share of actions simply run on habit (Wood, Quinn and Kashy, 2002). That is not laziness, it is efficiency. Rather than push harder, we can shape the setting so the better choice is the easy one and make habits stick.
What follows are ten modest practices. Each is small enough to try today and sturdy enough to carry you through the tired days as well as the good ones.
Add one tiny step to something you already do (habit stacking)
New behaviours hold fast when they sit on top of something you already do. After brushing your teeth, write a single line in your journal. When you make coffee, set your top three priorities. After the team stand-up, capture one decision or risk. Repeating a tiny action in the same context is how automaticity develops (Lally et al., 2010).
Put the reminder where you will see it so habits stick
Let the cue do the heavy lifting. Shoes by the door invite a run. A book on the pillow invites a page before bed. Fruit within reach invites a better snack. If it is in sight, it is in mind. Note: this mirrors the classic cue, routine, reward loop (Duhigg, 2012). It also aligns with Fogg’s prompt, ability, motivation model and the small celebration idea (Fogg, 2019).
Start embarrassingly small, tiny habits that last
One page. One push-up. One sentence. Habits grow along a curve. The median time to something that feels automatic is around 66 days, with wide variation by complexity (Lally et al., 2010). Then, nudge the dial. Once the two-minute version feels natural, increase difficulty just enough to stay interesting. This is the Goldilocks Rule from Atomic Habits (Clear, 2018).
A small thank you right after helps, reward the habit
Brains learn from quick feedback. A tick in a box, a quiet “done”, a sip of coffee. Small acknowledgements help wire the loop (Schultz, Dayan and Montague, 1997; Schultz, 1998). For teams, a Friday “show the work” note, one screenshot and one lesson, keeps the rhythm humane. Try this short weekly learning loop (https://www.evecoachingconsulting.com/resources/weekly-learning-loop).
Swap the habit for a kinder one, substitution beats stopping
Stopping something outright is tough. Substituting is kinder. Swap a two-minute stretch for a scrolling break. Move late-night emails to Send Later. As a group, channel the post-meeting grumble into a one-minute retro: tried, learned, change.
Make the helpful thing easy to reach, design for friction
Put the good path on rails. Lay out clothes the night before. Open the right document before you log off. Make the unhelpful option a touch awkward. Put snacks on a high shelf. Move social apps off the home screen. Defaults are powerful. Automatic enrolment increases pension participation, and pre-commitment programmes like Save More Tomorrow raise saving rates (Madrian and Shea, 2001; Thaler and Benartzi, 2004).
One-time actions that pay off daily, Habits: Make it easy
Install a site or app blocker on your biggest distraction
Move social apps off the dock or home screen
Set Send Later as the default for late-night email
Unsubscribe in bulk from noisy lists
Turn on autosave and version history for key documents
Auto-enrol in savings or learning modules where possible
💬 Coaching Cue: How does this show up in your leadership today?
If you miss a day, just start tomorrow, the two-day rule
Missing once is ordinary. Missing twice begins a new pattern. If you miss, simply return to the two-minute version the very next day. Evidence suggests a single slip does not derail formation. What matters is resuming (Lally et al., 2010). This echoes the “never miss twice” line in Atomic Habits (Clear, 2018).
When you want to break a habit, the four inversions from Atomic Habits
Apply Clear’s four laws in reverse. Make it invisible by removing cues. Make it unattractive by reframing costs and reminding yourself it clashes with your identity. Make it difficult by adding steps or delays such as passwords, timers or extra clicks. Make it unsatisfying by adding light stakes or a buddy check-in so lapses do not feel free.
Act like the person you want to be, identity-based habits
“I want to be calm” becomes “I am someone who behaves calmly under pressure.” Actions that fit who we believe we are tend to stick (Oyserman, 2009; Oyserman, 2015).
For teams: “We make decisions visible.” “We learn in public.” If you work with transformation leaders, see Executive Coaching
Pair a chore with something you enjoy, temptation bundling
Walk with a favourite podcast. Fold laundry with a series you are enjoying. In field studies, bundling something pleasurable with something effortful increased follow-through (Milkman, Minson and Volpp, 2014).
Keep a simple tally, and share one update, track your habits
A wall calendar, a neat spreadsheet, a quiet app. Choose one and mark it daily. Sharing a small weekly snapshot with a colleague improves the odds that you will keep going (Harkin et al., 2016).
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A few business examples, behavioural design at scale
Defaults at scale. When firms moved from opt-in to automatic pension enrolment, participation rose sharply (Madrian and Shea, 2001). Ease matters.
Pre-commitment with raises. Allocating a portion of future pay increases led to higher savings over time (Thaler and Benartzi, 2004).
Visible norms. Neighbour-comparison energy reports trimmed consumption across millions of households (Allcott, 2011). Quiet feedback changes behaviour.
Learn more about this approach on the About page
When something else works better, MI, goals, if-then, SDT
Motivational Interviewing helps when the decision itself is still unsettled. Use it to surface and resolve ambivalence before you design the routine.
Goal-setting theory helps when performance needs a sharper edge. Set a specific, challenging target, then let habits carry the daily effort.
Implementation intentions and MCII, WOOP bridge intention and action. If X, then I will Y. Add one coping plan for the likely obstacle (Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006; Sniehotta, Scholz and Schwarzer, 2005).
Self-Determination Theory reminds us to check for autonomy, competence and relatedness. A plan that feels imposed rarely lasts (Ryan and Deci, 2000).
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Tiny Habits to Sustain Change
Evidence-based prompts to help small behaviours stick—for you and your team.
Start tiny
Shrink the action until it’s almost effortless.
Anchor to a routine
Attach it to something you already do reliably.
One habit per context
Keep cues and actions crystal-clear; avoid stacking.
Design the environment
Make cues visible and tools reachable.
Remove friction
Eliminate one barrier that slows you down.
Celebrate immediately
A quick “well done” reinforces the loop.
Track: did / didn’t
Binary tracking beats perfectionism.
Weekly review
Note wins, misses, and the next tiny tweak.
If–then recovery
Plan the miss: “If I skip, then I…”
Scale slowly
Only expand when it feels automatic.
A gentle 10-minute close to embed the habit, coaching checklist
Name the identity, 30 seconds. “I am the kind of leader who creates clarity daily.”
Choose the stack, 90 seconds. After I open my laptop, I will set the day’s top three, two minutes.
Write one if-then, 90 seconds. If a meeting ends early, I will log one decision before I check messages.
Add a coping line, 60 seconds. If I miss a day, I will do the two-minute version tomorrow.
Adjust the setting, 60 seconds. Pin the template, move the distraction, set one helpful default.
Reward the act, 30 seconds. A tick, a word, a breath.
Record and share, 90 seconds. One simple tracker, updated daily. A weekly note to a nudge buddy.
Check SDT, 60 seconds. Does this feel chosen, achievable and supported
Calendar the cue, 60 seconds. Add tomorrow’s first cue to the diary.
Close with clarity, 30 seconds. One sentence. What happens next, and when.
It is quiet work. That is the point.
💬 Coaching Cue: What's the first baby steps you can make on this?
FAQ
Q. How do I make habits stick at work?
Use habit stacking with visible cues. Make a two-minute version for tough days. Track one leading indicator such as decisions logged within 24 hours. Share a weekly snapshot with a colleague.
Q. What is the two-day rule for habits?
Missing once is fine. Missing twice starts a new pattern. If you slip, restart tomorrow with the two-minute version.
Q. Do identity-based habits help sustain change?
Yes. When actions align with how you see yourself, for example “I am someone who creates clarity daily”, they are more likely to endure. Teams can use identity statements too.
📚REFERENCES
Allcott, H. (2011) Social norms and energy conservation, Journal of Public Economics, 95(9–10), pp. 1082–1095.
Clear, J. (2018) Atomic Habits. New York: Avery.
Duhigg, C. (2012) The Power of Habit. New York: Random House.
Fogg, B. J. (2019) Tiny Habits. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Gollwitzer, P. M. and Sheeran, P. (2006) Implementation intentions and goal achievement. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, pp. 69–119.
Harkin, B. et al. (2016) Does monitoring goal progress promote goal attainment A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 142(2), pp. 198–229.
Lally, P., Van Jaarsveld, C. H. M., Potts, H. W. W. and Wardle, J. (2010) How are habits formed Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), pp. 998–1009.
Madrian, B. C. and Shea, D. F. (2001) The power of suggestion. Inertia in 401(k) participation and savings behaviour. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116(4), pp. 1149–1187.
Milkman, K. L., Minson, J. A. and Volpp, K. G. M. (2014) Holding the Hunger Games hostage at the gym. Management Science, 60(2), pp. 283–299.
Oyserman, D. (2009) Identity-based motivation. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 19(3), pp. 250–260.
Oyserman, D. (2015) Pathways to Success Through Identity-Based Motivation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ryan, R. M. and Deci, E. L. (2000) Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), pp. 68–78.
Schultz, W., Dayan, P. and Montague, P. R. (1997) A neural substrate of prediction and reward. Science, 275(5306), pp. 1593–1599.
Schultz, W. (1998) Predictive reward signal of dopamine neurons. Journal of Neurophysiology, 80(1), pp. 1–27.
Sniehotta, F. F., Scholz, U. and Schwarzer, U. (2005) Action planning and coping planning for long-term lifestyle change. European Journal of Social Psychology, 35(4), pp. 565–576.
Wood, W., Quinn, J. M. and Kashy, D. A. (2002) Habits in everyday life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(6), pp. 1281–1297.
Thaler, R. H. and Benartzi, S. (2004) Save More Tomorrow. Using behavioural economics to increase employee saving. Journal of Political Economy, 112(S1), pp. S164–S187.
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