Keystone Habits: Not All Habits Are Created Equal

Certain habits are more important than others. They cause transformational changes and help us develop other beneficial habits. We call these keystone habits. These habits, most often than not, rely on the power of small wins. These wins have enormous power, disproportionate to the accomplishments of the wins themselves. Whenever a small win has been accomplished forces are set in motion to favor another small win, just like a chain reaction. As one Cornell professor puts it: "Small wins fuel transformative changes by leveraging tiny advantages into patterns that convince people that bigger achievements are within reach."

Small wins are not only important because of the chain-reaction type of motivation they provide, but also because of the beliefs they inject into you. Small wins give you courage, vision, and insight into what's actually possible. This way, you can reach your true potential far more easily.

Keystone habits are essentially the triggers for most small wins. By far, the most transformative keystone habit is exercise. I know you've heard of this a dozen times, but hear me out on this one. Most people say this and leave you unguided as to what you should do. I will provide a very simple formula. If you want to see the effects of exercise on your proactivity, energy, and health, you have to start doing only 3 things right simultaneously, namely sleep, nutrition, and exercise. But most importantly, you have to be patient. It only takes about two weeks for your VO₂ max (maximum amount of oxygen your body can utilize) (you can refer to this as your aerobic fitness or cardiovascular endurance) level to increase as much as 30%. If you want to have sharper focus, clearer thinking, and far more energy than usual, your day-to-day life should follow these strict rules:

1. Exercise should increase your heartbeat. (For overall energy 3 times a week should suffice. For muscular hypertrophy you should aim to work out every other day.)
2. Sleep should be the utmost priority and you should wake up at the same time every day. (I'm not telling you to sleep a certain amount of hours because when you wake up at the same time your body will adjust your melatonin levels to make you get the necessary amount of sleep for you unless, of course, you're looking at your phone at least an hour prior to sleep.)
3. Eat monosaturated fats like avocados, antioxidant-rich nutrients like blueberries, sources of vitamin K like broccolis, choline (eggs), and omega-3 essential fatty acids (from oily fish like salmon).
4. Hydrate! 80% of your brain is made up of water.

Other keystone habits that I personally like and which do not require as much effort as an exercise regimen are as follows:

1. Making your bed every day (The best and first small win for all of your days).
2. Taking a cold shower or contrast shower (in which you should stick to the ratio of 3:1, my recommendation: 30 seconds hot/normal, 10 seconds cold, combine it with Wim Hof breathing technique).
3. Remembering your dreams/Keeping a dream journal.
4. Writing dreamlines. These are dreams with specific deadlines and budgets. You essentially write down the skills or the amount of money you need in order to achieve that dream and then break it down into days. You then create a dreamline budget for every dream and find how much money you need to make every single day to achieve that dream/goal. Only after that, aim for a monthly income above that budget. Instead of telling yourself "I can't afford it.", ask yourself: "How can I afford it?". By asking the latter question, you're priming your Reticular Activating System to focus on finding answers in the background. Your brain will get to work immediately and give you insights.
5. Meditation (I don't do this very often but when I do, I simply focus on each of my five senses one at a time while breathing consciously)
6. Practicing gratitude.

"Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny."