By Mark Kaplan / March 21, 2020
Keystone habits are the key to change. Everyone knows we don’t like to change and one of the two most frequent excuses is we don’t have time. The second biggest detriment to change is relapse.
As a Certified Health Coach and Personal Trainer, I can’t believe that one of the biggest obstacles to change has changed. There can be some opportunities and pitfalls to having all of a sudden all personal life and less work. Talk about work life balance. Hopefully you are still working remotely.
What Are Some Great Keystone Habits?
Keystone habits are new routines we adopt that soon start changing other habits. I experienced this years ago when I started adopting new nutrition practices to get back to my high school weight. Soon my life changed dramatically. Well, it took years to complete the cycle, but big changes happened within a few years.
As I began to change my food choices and lose weight I started wondering what else I could change. Once you enjoy discipline, the world is your oyster.
What Behaviors Are the Goal of the Habits
Some great behaviors to initiate keystone habits are nutrition, health, fitness, learning, creativity, contribution, and spirituality. The behaviors are the goal and the individual activity is the strategy.
Eating more greens and less sugar is a good strategy to begin nutrition. Spending some time in solitude is a great strategy for health. Beginning an exercise program or increasing the intensity or duration of one improves fitness. Selecting challenging books to read is excellent for learning. I have always loved to read laymen books on physics. Start writing, dancing, playing an instrument, painting, teaching, or a new business to initiate your creativity.
Contribution is one of our most rewarding behaviors. Give a small part of your time to people or organizations that depend on volunteers or gratuitous acts. It is just as important to learn new skills or acquire knowledge that could improve other lives. Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos are all great contributors.
Finding our spirituality is a gift that keeps on giving. A small practice like meditating, going for a walk where you can appreciate the outdoors, or any of the above habits that connect you to yourself, others, or the planet will elevate your spirituality. Think of spirituality as connection and gratitude.
How to Maintain the Habit
Often developing new habits is difficult at the beginning. New habits sometimes require discipline and perseverance. The more challenging the habit the more willpower it might require. Once we start making progress, the habits often become autotelic meaning the activity is its own reward. The habit becomes addicting. I am addicted to writing first thing in the morning.
Be accountable to someone. Tell someone close to you your intentions and give them the right to monitor you. I have exchanged weekly reports with a close friend for over ten years and we update each other on the progress of our projects or goals. I don’t like telling him I gave up on something.
Celebrate milestones. Even if you don’t break out the champagne, give yourself mile markers and take pride in reaching them. Brag about the fact you have made progress to a certain point. If you want to run five miles, celebrate each additional mile you have run.
Share your progress and what you are learning on your adventure. Everyone has something they want to change but often don’t feel the initiative. Your progress gives other people encouragement they could also make changes. Movies are often not about someone becoming number one, but changing who they are.
This is a great time to begin new habits to support great behaviors. There are plenty of people with time to listen to your progress. Maybe your progress will get them started. You can show some leadership.
Return to the Home Page
Read The Good Life Plan by Mark Kaplan See Excerpts
Read Creating Your Own Happiness- Lifestyle Self-Coaching Course by Mark Kaplan See Excerpts
See Post Happiness, Fitness, and Mindfulness
See Post How We Enjoy Intensity without Stress
See Post Life Style and Work Life Balance
See Post Creativity Can Be Career Changing
See Post Increasing the Flow in Your Life
See Post Fitness Nutrition and Weight Management
Purchase my Book on Happiness to Create Your New Work Life Balance. In paper back or on Kindle. See Exerpts Paper Back $6.95 Kindle $2.99
