You’ve probably experienced the thrill of accomplishment that comes with setting a new goal and sticking to it. Even better if that goal becomes a new healthy habit you are able to fit into your daily life!
But building healthy habits can be challenging, and it’s easy to be hard on yourself when they don’t stick right away. So, how do you work towards a new habit with more grace and kindness to yourself?
Try a “better than nothing” habit instead!
As sociologist Christine Carter shares, try allowing yourself to “do something so minuscule that it’s only slightly better than doing nothing at all.” On the days that you’re struggling to fit your habit into your routine, you can fall back on doing the simplest 1-minute version instead. Want to exercise more? Commit to a brisk walk around the block, instead of trying to make it to the gym every morning. Want to meditate regularly? Start with just 1 minute a day.
With this approach, you can still aim to reach a more challenging version of your goal over time. But you’re building consistency and accomplishing small wins along the way!
Build a healthy habit in just 1 minute a day with our Better than Nothing challenge.
Our Better than Nothing challenge idea encourages participants to focus on building a new healthy habit for just 1 minute each day. 1 minute may not feel like a lot—and that's a good thing! By aiming to stay consistent above all else for this 2-week challenge, participants will be planting the seed for a healthy habit to grow over the long run.
Ready to run the Better than Nothing challenge? See how below.
Challenge Details
Follow these specifications when creating your challenge in the Admin Center.
Challenge Name: Better than Nothing
Challenge Modes & Goals:
- Custom Activity Streak - Log your 1-minute habit of choice (Suggested activity nickname: 1-min habit ⏰)
- Content - Upload the “Better than Nothing - 1 Min. Habits” content collection from the library to share tips with users on starting new healthy habits and managing habits that no longer serve their health
- Target - Keep moving to reach 70,000 steps over the course of the challenge
- Leaderboard - Metric: Steps
Duration: 14 days
Description:
Build a daily healthy habit with Better than Nothing! According to sociologist Christine Carter, the key to building a healthy habit is to start small—really small! Log just 1 minute of a new habit each day to help make that habit automatic over time.
In this challenge:
✅ Complete 1 min of your habit each day & log it in the app
👟 Keep stepping to reach your Target goal
Time for better than nothing!
Head to the Admin Center to create the challenge now.
Communication Strategy
Challenge invitation:
Send this invitation as an in-app announcement and as a message in Slack, Teams, or email.
When: 7 days prior to the challenge start
Title: Time for healthy habits ⏰
Optional Image:
Description:
The Better than Nothing challenge, inspired by sociologist Christine Carter, asks you to start a new healthy habit for only 1 minute a day!
Starting small and focusing on consistency is key. Just 1 minute each day is enough to kickstart a new healthy habit. ⏳
✔️ Pick a habit you've wanted to work on, and practice it for at least 1 minute daily for the duration of the challenge.
✔️ Keep moving to reach the Target goal
Call to action button link: [INSERT CHALLENGE LINK]
Call to action button text: Join the challenge
Challenge Announcements
Challenge Kick-off Announcement:
Engage your users from day 1 by sending an in-app announcement that promotes your challenge.
When: First day of challenge
Title: Habits to be made here 🔨
Image:
Recipients: Send to challenge participants
Description:
Today is the first day of the Better than Nothing Challenge! Have you found a habit you want to work on? We recommend a 1-minute habit you can practice even on your busiest days!
Check out the content section for why 1 minute a day is enough to start building a new habit, as well as some 1-minute habit inspiration if you're feeling stuck. ✨
Remember to also aim to keep moving to reach the Target goal by the end of the challenge. Happy stepping! 👟
Challenge Wrap-up Announcement:
Recap your challenge by calling out stats and any rewards or prizes you are giving out. Be sure to include your own information in the placeholders below.
When: After grace period ends
Title: You did it! 💥
Image:
Recipients: Send to challenge participants
Description:
Talk about stepping it up! Congrats to everyone for participating in our Better than Nothing challenge and focusing on working to build a new personal healthy habit.
It looks like [# PARTICIPANTS] kept the Streak going the entire challenge. We hope that habit sticks with you going forward. 🤩
Everyone who met the goal was also entered into a prize-drawing raffle. The winner is: [PARTICIPANT]
Thanks for joining, getting stepping, and working to build a new habit. You’re all superstars! And remember, something is always better than nothing. 🏆
Want more announcement templates? Find more in our Announcement Templates for Challenge Updates.
Chat Prompts
All chat messages should be posted from your MoveSpring account in the mobile app or from the MoveSpring web app in the challenge chat. Encourage engagement by responding to the prompts yourself first to kick things off!
When: First day of challenge
Message:
Welcome to Better than Nothing! Time to pick a habit to log for the challenge that feels so simple that you can do it even when you’re tired, busy, or feeling unmotivated. ✅ Let us know what habit you’re working on below here in chat!
When: Halfway through the challenge
Message:
We’re halfway through the Better than Nothing challenge! How has it been going for you? Share any takeaways or advice you have so far with the group!
Rewards Strategy
You can pull a report to determine the participants who met the Custom Activity Streak goal, and raffle off prizes to those who met the goal. We suggest prizes that will reinforce the themes of the challenge, such as habit-based subscriptions or items.
Prize Ideas:
- Habit tracking calendar
- Smart water bottle
- Subscription to a mindfulness app or Audible
- Copy of Atomic Habits by James Clear
Want more challenge templates? Ask your client success rep about our Ultimate plan.
