Most of us want to improve our lives. But for that to happen, we need to adopt certain positive habits. Fundamentally speaking, habits play a key role in our day to day lives. But not all habits are created equal. Some can have a much bigger impact than others. This is why it’s important that we learn to identify these habits and develop them. Charles Duhigg, author of the book: The Power of Habit, calls them“keystone habits.”
So what is a keystone habit? To put it simply, a keystone habit is a single habit that allows for other habits in your life to be sustained. It’s not much different from a normal habit, it’s just that it has the most potential to transform your entire life. That’s because keystone habits spark a chain reaction that can have a domino effect and other habits take hold. And often we’re not even consciously trying to form all those other habits, they’re just a byproduct of the keystone habit.
Let me give you an example. This is Mike. One day he decided that he wanted to make a change in his life. He realized that all he did was work and spend time at home, watching TV and playing video games. So Mike decided to pick up a healthy new hobby, which was exercise. He bought a gym membership and made a commitment to train there, at least 3 times per week. Now unbeknown to Mike, his new exercise habit would slowly create other new positive habits.
Mike was a regular smoker, but once he started exercising, he found himself smoking less and less. Cigarettes were Mike’s way of dealing with the stress at his job, but exercise offered a much better alternative for stress management. Because Mike was worn out after his workouts, his sleep improved. He fell asleep faster and had less awakenings during the night. As a result, his energy throughout the day skyrocketed. He became more productive at work and was even able to land a promotion.
Mike even picked up cooking as a new hobby, so he could eat more protein rich meals to make more progress at the gym. And because he was now cooking most of his meals, he started saving money, since he wasn’t eating out at expensive restaurants all the time. Mike became a completely new person in the span of 6 months. But he didn’t try to make all these changes at first. The only change he committed to was exercising 3 times per week. It’s just that his commitment had a domino effect and he formed other habits as a result.
This is the power of keystone habits. Just one change can lead to an avalanche of other changes. And stories like these are not uncommon. There are many people who attribute a single habit change, to their life transformation. However if you take away their keystone habit, all other habits tend to become less stable, and sometimes they completely crumble and fall apart. That is why you need to protect the positive keystone habit at any cost.
