Book Ballates #1 | Micro-habits: The Art of Consistency
- Evelin Banderas
- Jan 12
- 4 min read
Welcome to the very first edition of Book Ballates.
At Ballates, we believe that movement is only one part of the journey. To truly transform how we live in our bodies, we must also nourish our minds with ideas that challenge the status quo of "hustle culture" and "fast fitness". In this series, we curate and share the books that have fundamentally reshaped our philosophy —offering you a library of self-compassion and intelligent change.
To kick off 2026, we’ve chosen a book that serves as the perfect antidote to the "January Rush": Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg.
The Myth of the "Big Reset": Why your best year doesn't start with a Bang
Every year, society hands us a script: New Year, New Me.
It’s a seductive story. We buy the new journal, the new gym wear, the sudden, steel-clad conviction that this time, we will become a different person overnight. And by February, we're already exhausted and those plans have turned into guilt. We blame our willpower. We question our worth.
But what if you were simply following a broken script?
In Tiny Habits, BJ Fogg — the founder of the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford — dismantles the idea that big changes require massive effort. He teaches us that the secret to lasting transformation isn't found in a "Big Reset", but in the "Small Start", dismantling the entire drama of drastic overhauls and introduces a protagonist we’ve all underestimated: the micro-habit.
Motivation: the Unreliable Friend
We often wait for a "spark" of motivation before we start a new routine. However, Fogg warns us that motivation is a fair-weather friend. It’s high when life is easy, but it vanishes the moment you are tired, stressed, or overwhelmed.
If you rely on motivation to change your body, you are building your house on shifting sand. Fogg’s revolutionary insight is that to create lasting change, you must make the behavior so small that it requires zero willpower. This is the core of what we call the "Soft Revolution": moving away from the violence of extreme effort and toward the intelligence of small, inevitable wins.
The anatomy of a micro-habit
Fogg’s genius is a paradigm so simple it feels like a secret. Lasting transformation isn’t born in the storm of effort, but in the calm of consistency. And this is a move away from the violence of “no pain, no gain” and toward the intelligent, gentle art of the inevitable win.
His method is a simple, three-step formula that honors your current life rather than disrupting it:
The Anchor Moment: don’t create a new reminder; hijack an old one. Find an existing routine (like pouring your morning coffee or putting on your slippers) to serve as your "reminder". This is your stage.
The Tiny Behavior: here is the heart of the magic. shrink your ambition. scale your goal down to its simplest form. Instead of "I will do a full workout," try "I will do two mindful Ballates stretches". It should be so easy that it feels "stupid" not to do it. This removes the friction, the dread, the hurdle.
The Celebration: this is the magic ingredient. Immediately after the behavior, celebrate! A quiet "yes!", a smile, or a feeling of success. This releases dopamine, telling your brain: "This felt good, let's do it again".
Building a Foundation, not a Firework
This is where the real story begins. Micro-habits are a love letter to your nervous system. When you force yourself into an aggressive, all-or-nothing “shred”, your body perceives a threat. It rebels with stress, exhaustion, and ultimately, surrender.
But when you start with micro-habits, you are teaching your brain that change is safe, successful, and sustainable. You build trust. And from that trust, something remarkable happens: the habit grows. Two stretches become five. One sentence becomes a paragraph. The tiny seed, nurtured daily, puts down roots and becomes an unshakable part of your new routine.
A foundation for your year
We’ve integrated these behavioral principles into the heart of the Ballates – 90 Days program. We know that a resilient, elegant body isn't built on one day of exhaustion, but on a 90-day cycle of intelligent, incremental consistency.
Just as a micro-habit starts small and scales, and this program is a 12-week journey that mirrors the natural progression of a micro-habit: starting with gentle, foundational consistency and gradually, intelligently scaling towards profound strength. This a conversation with your body, not a battle against it.
Our Must-Read Recommendation: Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg
More than a manual, this book is a lens that reframes your entire view of personal growth. Published in 2019, it is the compassionate, science-backed antidote to the “Big Reset” myth. Fogg guides you, chapter by chapter, from understanding the mechanics of behavior to designing a life of sustainable change — making you understand that starting tiny is powerful. It’s the perfect companion for your first steps into a more mindful way of moving through life.
Your best year isn’t waiting for a grand opening. It’s waiting for a tiny, almost imperceptible beginning. Start there.
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