One good habit leads to another
Good habits form one by one, in a sequence.
You form one good habit completely, and then suddenly, one after the other, other good habits sure to follow.
For example, say you decide to form a habit of waking up early. And let’s say, you achieve the habit, and you do wake up early every day, consistently. The most likely result of this habit will be you forming another good habit — a great morning routine. Maybe you will start meditation, or some form of workout, or maybe yoga. But whatever you end up doing, will be a healthy morning habit. You will not, most likely, wake up so early to check your social media or binge watch Netflix, right?
That’s how it is with habits.
And next, once you have set up a great morning routine, and have a stress free start to the day, you will end up feeling better, wanting to live a healthier life and hence eating healthy and spending quality time with the family. It’s a nice domino effect.
These initial habits are known as “keystone habits”, good habits that lead to additional powerful habits. In his bestselling book “The Power Of Habit”, Charles Duhigg explains this concept in clear details. He argues “Change one keystone habit and see the ripple effect getting formed that is far greater than you anticipated”.
But just like one good habit leads to another better one, one bad habit leads to other worse ones.
So, let’s say you regularly wake up late (a bad habit, right?), then you will also have a stressed out morning routine. You may skip breakfast or grab something unhealthy like a sugary doughnut, snap at your family (since you are running late), and rush off to work in a hurry. You will mostly drive like a maniac throwing expletives at anyone that is slowing you down on the road, then have a terrible time at work and … the vicious cycle continues. Each of this becomes a habit and even on the one off day that you do wake up early, you will still, due to habit, lead the same unhealthy morning routine and the same stressed out day. See how it works? One bad habit leads to a series of worse ones.
As for me, the keystone habit I formed was to work out 5 times a week. This lead me to going to bed early, getting a good night’s sleep, stop binge responding on social media, ignoring toxic people, and being empathetic.
Go ahead and try this out. Decide and pursue one good habit. You will see your life change in more ways than one. It will astonish you.
“As people strengthened their willpower muscles in one part of their lives — in the gym, or a money management program — that strength spilled over into what they ate or how hard they worked. Once willpower became stronger, it touched everything.” ― Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit
