To jump-start a workout habit, start out with small amounts, suggests wellness specialist Lauren Parsons.

Among the sources of everyday guilt, right up there with “not eating enough fruits and veg” and “not saving enough money” is “not working out.” As a wellness specialist and personal trainer in New Zealand, Lauren Parsons has heard every excuse for why people don’t exercise. The most common? “No time.”

To which, she asks: “Do you have time to brush your teeth every day?”

She estimates that brushing one’s teeth twice a day takes around four minutes. By incorporating exercise into our routines in manageable, four-minute chunks, we can build the foundation for a more active life.

OK, let’s be realistic: Four minutes is not going to transform you into Lionel Messi or Serena Williams (TED conversation: On tennis, love and motherhood). However, some studies have shown that “snacking” on exercise can be worthwhile — that brief, intense bursts of activity still have health benefits.

“There are so many different ways that you can snack on exercise,” says Parsons. “It could be that while the kettle boils in the morning, you do some push-ups on your kitchen counter [or] … when you’re at the playground, you play with your kids.”

During the work day, go for a brisk four-minute walk down the hall or up a few flights of stairs. On the weekend, grab the mop or vacuum, go to Spotify and choose a “workout” playlist (under “Browse”), and clean to the beat. Or, while brushing and flossing your teeth, do a set of squats.

Parsons’ only requirements for a worthy snack: It should raise your heart rate, strengthen your muscles, or both.

Having been diagnosed with gestational diabetes while pregnant, Parsons wants to reduce preventable diabetes by encouraging more people to exercise in ways they can fit into their lives. (Editor’s note: Type 1 diabetes is never preventable, while most — but not all — cases of type 2 diabetes are preventable.)

“I’m not saying you should do only four minutes of exercise a day,” explains Parsons. “Longer workouts can give you even more benefit, but the thing I hear most often when I share this concept … is that it sounds doable.”

Every healthy person you can think of — from Serena to the neighbor you see power-walking even through downpours — got started somewhere.

Are you ready to do it?

Watch her TEDxOneonta talk here:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Halton is Assistant Ideas Editor at TED, and a science journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. This piece was adapted for TED-Ed from this Ideas article.

Writer Josh Kaufman shares his own tried-and-tested technique to learn a new skill by putting in just 45 minutes a day for a month.

We all have them — the lovelorn musical instruments, the dusty sports equipment, the barely-cracked language texts, the overlong trousers that have lived in your closet for half a decade and that you’re going to teach yourself to hem any day now…

Wanting to learn something new comes from that best, most curious part of us. But then we have to put in the work. When it’s day three on the keyboard and the cat walking across the keys still sounds better than us, we can get discouraged — and often give up.

Writer Josh Kaufman, author of The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything … Fast and The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business has figured out why so many of us get stopped in our tracks during this early learning period. “Feeling stupid doesn’t feel good, and the beginning of learning anything new is feeling stupid,” he says.

Through trial and error, he has come up with four steps that can help you scramble up the sharp slope of the learning curve in as little as 20 hours. Why 20? As he puts it, “20 hours is doable — that’s about 45 minutes a day for about a month, even skipping a couple of days here and there.”

1. Break down a skill into its components.

The first thing you need to do is to decide what you want to learn, and then break it down into smaller, manageable pieces. Let’s say you want to bake your own bread. It’s a multi-step process that includes making dough, letting it rise, punching it down, shaping it into a loaf, and baking it in the oven. You’ll start by identifying the different tools and skills behind each step.

Or, if you choose yoga as your new hobby, begin at home with a video that shows you the basic poses and breathing techniques — and then go try a class.

2. Learn enough to know when you’re making a mistake.

“Get three to five resources about what it is you’re trying to learn,” says Kaufman. “It could be books, it could be DVDs, it could be anything, but don’t use those as a way to procrastinate.” After all, you won’t learn how to bake bread or do yoga unless you break out the flour or yoga mat and do something.

Set a limit on the number of resources you’re consulting — there’s no need to buy every book or watch every YouTube video on the subject; there’s time to do that later — and jump in.

3. Remove any and all barriers to practice.

This may require stowing away your electronic devices while you tackle your hobby. Or get creative and combine your favorite distraction with your new activity. In a TEDxPenn talk, behavioral scientist Katherine Milkman advocates a technique called “temptation bundling”: pairing something you know you love to do with something you’re trying to get yourself to do. Turn on your favorite podcast while you bake, or you could turn your weekly coffee with a friend into a weekly at-home yoga session with the two of you.

4. Practice for at least 20 hours.

To overcome what Kaufman calls the “frustration barrier” — that period in the beginning when you’re painfully incompetent and you know it — you must commit to sticking with your new activity for at least 20 hours. By that point, he says, “you will be astounded at how good you are.”

Watch his TEDxCSU talk here:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Halton is Assistant Ideas Editor at TED, and a science journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. This piece was adapted for TED-Ed from this Ideas article.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines creativity as “the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness.” How will you exercise your creativity this year? To keep your creative resolutions, try these 5 process-oriented tips:

1. Choose a goal that matters to you — and write down the reasons why. Why do you want to keep this creative resolution? Why is this meaningful for you? It’s easier to achieve a goal when you’re clear about your motivation, notes psychologist Kelly McGonigal. To learn more from McGonigal about the science of goal-setting, read this article.

2. Block 10 minutes every day to work toward your creative goal. What’s the smallest action you can take today that moves you closer to your creative goal? Does it take less than 10 minutes? Do it. It may sound obvious, but it’s easy to forget: progress toward any goal requires an investment of time and energy. Here’s how some creative pros schedule their time.

3. Try this schedule for 100 days. The idea is simple: Work on your creative project, every day, for 100 days. Document your progress. (After 100 days, you can pivot as needed.) Read more about the 100 Day Project here.

4. If you get stuck, create something — anything. “If you have a creative mind, it’s a little bit like owning a border collie,” notes author Elizabeth Gilbert. “You have to give it something to do or it will find something to do, and you will not like the thing it finds to do.” For more ideas from Gilbert, read this article. To exercise your creative mind right now, try one of these fun writing prompts.

5. Enjoy the creative process. “Necessity isn’t always the mother of invention,” says Steven Johnson in this TED Talk. ”You’ll find the future wherever people are having the most fun.” Whether that means finding a creative buddy to swap ideas with, or learning how to express your ideas through stop-motion animation, know that creative discovery and play go hand-in-hand — and while you can’t control the outcome, you can control the process. So follow your curiosity — and remember to have fun!

Art credit: iStock

For more ideas in creativity, subscribe to the weekly TED-Ed Newsletter here >>

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Sitting down for brief periods can help us recover from stress or recuperate from exercise. But nowadays, our lifestyles make us sit much more than we move around. Are our bodies built for such a sedentary existence? Murat Dalkilinç investigates the hidden risks of sitting down. Watch this TED-Ed Lesson below.

2. What makes muscles grow?

We have over 600 muscles in our bodies that help bind us together, hold us up, and help us move. Your muscles also need your constant attention, because the way you treat them on a daily basis determines whether they will wither or grow. Jeffrey Siegel illustrates how a good mix of sleep, nutrition and exercise keep your muscles as big and strong as possible. Watch this TED-Ed Lesson below.

3. What would happen if you didn’t drink water?

Water is essentially everywhere in our world, and the average human is composed of between 55 and 60% water. So what role does water play in our bodies, and how much do we actually need to drink to stay healthy? Mia Nacamulli details the health benefits of hydration. Watch this TED-Ed Lesson below.

4. The treadmill’s dark and twisted past

The constant thud underneath your feet. The constrained space. The monotony of going nowhere fast. Running on a treadmill can certainly feel like torture, but did you know it was originally used for that very purpose? Conor Heffernan details the dark and twisted history of the treadmill. Watch this TED-Ed Lesson below.

5. How playing sports benefits your body … and your brain

The victory of the underdog. The last minute penalty shot that wins the tournament. The training montage. Many people love to glorify victory on the field, cheer for teams, and play sports. But should we be obsessed with sports? Are sports as good for us as we make them out to be, or are they just a fun and entertaining pastime? Leah Lagos and Jaspal Ricky Singh show what science has to say on the matter. Watch this TED-Ed Lesson below.

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