Keystone Habits

We talked a bit about goals recently, so it’s natural to talk about the way to get to those goals: habits.

There’s been plenty of ink spilled on habits - these three books are my favorite (in that order) - but they’re mostly about sticking to habits. I think the choosing of the habits is more important. All habits aren’t even remotely created equal. Which means we need to talk about what I call “Keystone Habits.”

Keystone Habits

The idea comes from an article I read forever ago about how wolves change rivers.

Basically, reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995 created a “trophic cascade” that led to a change in deer grazing patterns which led to vegetation growth and increased biodiversity and changes in shelter which, eventually, decreased riverbank erosion.

Not all animals have this sort of seismic impact. The ones that do are called “Keystone Species.”

I think about Keystone Habits the same way: singular actions that create enormous downstream effects.

For example, a great Keystone Habit is training for a super challenging physical event. I’m currently training for the NYC marathon, which means I have 4-5 runs scheduled a week. That’s the training habit. But, those runs create the coveted “necessity cascade effect” - my diet has improved (if I eat a burrito at lunch the evening run is miserable), I’m drinking way more water (dehydrated makes runs worse than burritos do), and I go to sleep earlier (no sleep is the only thing worse than dehydration).

But, also, I realized runs are much harder alone. So, I’ve joined a running club. And a good friend does the Sunday long run with me.

The runs tighten the rest of my schedule, so I’ve become more efficient with my work day.

The riverbed has changed.

Keystone Habits don’t need to be physical. Another great one is picking a few people you admire and creating a monthly mastermind group. The same type of waterfall changes will occur - if you’ve got to present your progress each month to people you respect, you’ll need a clear goal and to move aggressively towards it in a thoughtful way. You’re “training” for those meetings.

There are three big differences between the Keystone Habit approach and other habit advice:

1. Willpower: Most habit advice relies on willpower - “read every morning and don’t break the chain.” These types of habits don’t create necessity. A marathon or monthly mastermind does. Willpower is a finite resource - necessity is a much more reliable motivator.

2. Bottom-Up vs. Top-Down: Most habit advice is about starting small and building/stacking habits on top of each other. Do a push-up after brushing your teeth for a week, then add 5 minutes of Duolingo after the push-up, etc. Keystone Habits start with the big anchor that forces the other behavior. Marathon training requires you to do a bunch of healthy things, and that necessity will help you figure out how to fit them in your life.

3. Internal vs. External Tracking: If you’re using a tracking app and skip a day of meditating… nothing happens. If you eat a burrito at lunch and then try to run 5 miles, you end up curled in a ball on the side of the Norwalk River Valley Trail while a couple of unruly teens take pictures. The system breaking has penalties for Keystone Habits.

Give it a shot. Choose an unflinching anchor - a marathon, mastermind group, hosting a dinner party, teaching a workshop - whatever. Then, let necessity do the heavy lifting of building the supporting habits around it.