Written by
John Carter
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A keystone habit is a concept created by Charles Duhigg, the author of the book "The Power of Habit." His key finding, discovered through a lifetime of research on habits, is that certain habits have the power to create a "cascade effect" – meaning they actually make it easier to develop other good habits.
The reason this matters is that it helps us better set our priorities. If we try to change every habit we have at once, which is often how we approach weight loss, we are very likely to fail.
Duhigg argues that we should take a different approach: focus on one or two keystone habits and master those first. These keystone habits will be more manageable, and once we master them, they will directly make it easier to develop the others.
A great example of a keystone habit is getting enough sleep. We might set a New Year's resolution to achieve several health-related things: eat healthier, exercise 45 minutes every day, and sleep eight hours a night. A month later, it's very possible that life got in the way and we're back to eating the same way, skipping the gym, and barely getting six hours of sleep a night.
If we follow the keystone habit framework, it might actually make more sense to focus aggressively, at least at first, just on getting enough sleep. If we prioritize this habit and really stick with it, we might find that a month later, it's actually become a part of our live. We're now getting in bed on time and waking up energized.
If we now decide to commit to a new exercise plan, we may find that we have the energy to go to the gym each day. The second week of our new plan, when normally we might have had a day where we felt tired and decided to skip the gym, this time we actually go. That's the point: our single keystone habit of sleeping more created positive effects and actually made it easier to pursue our other habit goals.
At Reset, we think exercise is one of the most important long-term ways to improve your health (but much less important than nutrition for weight loss specifically). But we also believe deeply in the science of keystone habits. This science suggests that right as you start a new weight loss plan might not be the best time to begin an overly ambitious fitness regimen (though you should definitely keep doing whatever you already like to do).
In our opinion, it's smartest to focus on one keystone habit first: following a healthier eating plan. Even after just a few weeks, as eating better starts to become a habit, you'll be more prepared to make other healthy changes. Counterintuitively, taking things slowly and focusing on one keystone habit might be what gets you over the finish line fastest!
Reset members often choose Monday as a Reset Day because it creates a ripple effect. When we start the week on a healthy note, sticking to our plan, it actually makes it easier to make good choices the rest of the week. In this way, a single habit (Reset), gives us a better chance of developing others. In our opinion (albeit biased), Reset is the ultimate keystone habit! You can take our quiz here if you're interested in learning more about the program.
