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Micro-Activities

Micro-activities are small, baby steps you can take at the beginning of your journey to be more joyful and productive. There is a word in Japanese called Kaizen that means making small improvements and building momentum bit by bit. Some suggestions for using micro-activities follow:

Wake up and have a shower, it will wake you up, give you energy and cleanse toxins from your skin. 


Brush your teeth every night, also, use interdental brushes. Brushing your teeth is one of the most important things you can do for your health. Infections can rot your teeth, cause gingivitis and other oral health complaints. Infections can lead to other health concerns like cardio health as well. Besides if you want to keep your teeth well into old age and avoid nasty and expensive visits to the dentist then this 5 minute routine will stand you in good stead. 

Start work for 5 minutes. This tricks your mind into thinking that you can handle anything for just five minutes and you may end up keeping on for more time once you're at it. 

Make your bed in the morning. If you do one thing, make your bed in the mornings. This is a little bit of discipline you can try, it looks better and is more restful when you get into bed at night. 

Throw things in the trash immediately. Putting things in the trash saves you from collecting it all later. Trash carries toxins and germs that you don't want left laying around. Sealing your trash is a stainless steel bin also deters pests. 


Just do one dish. Either wash your dishes or load them into the dishwasher as soon as possible. It makes them easier to clean if you do it straight away and it deters pests and gets rid of other germs and poisons. 

Put things in away as soon as you are finished with them; Everything has it's place. This way your home will be of neater appearance and you can always find the things you need. In this case, you will feel more organised. Have multiple things like scissors, pens and sticky tape at strategic points around the house so that they are handy no matter what the task. 


Get up at first call. You can try to get up at 5am or 6am. Whatever time you get up, try to get up straight away. For the sake of sleep hygiene also try to go to bed at the same time every night. 

Show up! Put your sneakers on and off you go! Something as simple as putting your running shoes on first thing in the morning or at a planned time can trick you into the mood for going for a run, or to the gym or whatever. 

Work on something for 10 minutes a day. 10 minutes a day adds up to about an hour week, 4 hours per month and fantastically 48 hours per year. This builds upon something in small, easy increments. The short bursts will help you focus and do your best work. 

Try not to recline too much. Sometimes having a nap makes you feel worse than before, other times you genuinely need a rest-break. It's up to you to judge but try not to laze around too much. The micro-activity you can use is just to raise yourself into standing position. It might hurt a bit at first, but it will stand you in good stead with practice. 

Be active. For instance if your practicing housework or a hobby (like sewing), or playing with your kids,  where you are moving around a bit it counts to  your overall daily activity, you won't even notice and it is good for you! 

Drink one cup of herbal tea that is particularly good for you each day. You can find information about different types of tea in my other post, here: Herbal Teas.

Take supplements that are particularly good for your health. There are so many supplements out there that are good for you health and well-being. There are also a lot of wild claims about different substances and products that are supposed to do miracles and actually don't really do anything and cost too much. Just stick to a few tried and true supplements, do your research or see a herbalist first. This micro-habit can really improve your health and well-being. 

Can you see how micro-activities benefit you, getting little things out of the way, building habits and momentum, chipping away at things and keeping yourself organised? Can you think of any of your own micro-activities you would like to try? 


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