69 easy
“Change 10 things by 1%, not one thing by 10%” - Dr. Tara Swart
What is 69 easy?“You have so much potential in your brain. Your brain is amazing. And if you know how to use it properly, you can make your life so much better than you ever dreamed it could be.
I would make a set of tweaks in some very basic fundamental areas, and I would make them microtweaks. Where I talk about sleep, diet, hydration, exercise, and stress management, I always say change 10 things by 1%, not one thing by 10%. If you went to bed half an hour earlier or you drank an extra glass of water every or you ate some more vegetables, and you walked a thousand steps more than you usually do and spent some time in nature... if you do a few things like that every day, they're physical things that are building the foundation for your brain to be in a good environment where it can be better. I guarantee you feel so much better within a matter of weeks that you'll think, Okay, what else can I do? Then you can build it to a point where physically you're in really good condition. And then you could do a vision board or whatever your goal is.
It's so easy to create a pattern. It feels hard. The first day is a little tough. The second day is a little bit tougher. But then that third day, you're like, holy shit, this is a pattern. And it feels different. And it feels cool, and then you get excited about it. And there's nothing bigger I've learned in my life, Tara, than realizing if you do this, and then you do that, and then you're like, oh, now the landscape looks different. Now, what else could I do? What else could I do?”
What is 69 easy?
69 easy is a program designed to create new habits by getting “just 1% better every day” for 69 days.
- Choose 10 things.
- Get just 1% better every day for 69 days.
- Keep going.
The point of 69 easy isn’t to get to the end so you can stop doing these things. It’s not about suffering through a program you hate or that makes you pee all day. It’s about slowing down, making small changes, building real habits, and actually enjoying the process. Miss a day? Don’t start over… just keep going. There is no finish line. You’re building habits for life.
69 easy meets you where you’re at. It’s not a one-size-fits-all program. Choose your own adventure…
Choosing Your 10 Things: “What would this look like if it were easy?”
“Floss one tooth” mentality…
- Neil Strauss's "floss one tooth" rule is a habit-building strategy where you commit to flossing just one single tooth to overcome resistance and start a difficult task or new habit. Commit to flossing one tooth… just one. single. tooth. What you’ll find is that after one tooth, you’ll likely end up flossing the rest anyway. Starting is the hardest part. Lower the cost of commitment for yourself.
Ask yourself, “What could I [theoretically] enjoy doing for the rest of my life?”
Choose things that will enhance your health, happiness, and overall life as a byproduct of creating your new habits.
You can choose things you want to stop doing. If adding 10 new habits to your life seems daunting, choose things to stop doing. Get 1% better each day at breaking a bad habit or habits. You’re simplifying your life by elimination.
Avoid extremes. When in doubt, err on the side of super simple and super easy.
69 easy [EXAMPLE]
⭐ Just 1% better every day.
No phone or electronics for one hour after waking up.No phone or electronics for 5 minutes after waking up.Be completely present at all times.Slow down.Go to the gym.Move my body.Be a contributing member of society.Help someone with something.Meditate for 20 minutes.Take a calm, deep breath in & out of my nose.Walk outside for 45 minutes.Walk outside.Floss teeth.Floss one tooth.Keep a gratitude journal.Write down one thing I’m grateful for.Read for 30 minutes.Read one sentence from my book.No phone or electronics one hour before bed.No phone or electronics 5 minutes before bed.
Mindset, Tips, Quotes
- “The day you stop racing is the day you win the race.” - Bob Marley
- “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.”
- “As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.”
- “Baby steps” mentality. One little baby step at a time.
- “Just do the next most necessary thing. The smartest version of yourself isn't overthinking, it’s getting things done.”
- Progress not perfection. Stop the all-or-nothing thinking. Direction not perfection. There’s no such thing as perfect.
- “And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good.”
- Just 1% better every day.
- Stack wins. Cultivate small wins, even if they seem irrelevant.
- “You must assemble your life yourself, action by action.”
- "So, what if, instead of thinking about solving your whole life, you just think about adding good things. One at a time. Just let your pile of good things grow.”
- The Compounding Effect: small, consistent, daily actions accumulate into massive, exponential results over time.
1-Degree Shift
“If a plane takes off from London heading to New York and the pilot makes a microscopic 1-degree shift in the heading at takeoff... they won’t land in New York. They will land in Washington D.C.— over 200 miles away.
At the start of the flight, that 1-degree shift is barely noticeable. But over time, it completely changes the destination.
We often paralyze ourselves thinking we need to make huge, dramatic, terrifying leaps to change our lives. But true “bold action” isn’t about the size of the leap— it’s about the direction of the step.
You don’t need perfect conditions to change your life. You just need a 1-degree shift in your direction right now.”
WARNING!
“What’s easy to do is easy not to do.” - Jim Rohn
The small, positive daily habits that lead to success are just as simple to neglect as they are to perform. Skipping a small, good habit has no immediate penalty so it feels harmless in the moment. Nobody will notice if you skip. But when you skip those easy, positive tasks repeatedly, it compounds into long-term negative consequences, leading to stagnation, poor health, or missed goals. Skipping them daily builds a pattern of neglect. Doing them daily builds a healthy, disciplined life, and brings you closer to who you want to be.
The quote is a reminder to do the small, easy things consistently because those small actions add up and can lead to big results. It’s about forming good habits. Doing the little things daily creates the life you want.
What people are saying about 69 easy…
“Nice.” - Everyone
“All due respect to 75 Hard, but it’s not for me.” - George C.