Isolating the habit

Habits are tiny routines. An automated response to a situational cue.

If you do the same action everday (same time, same prompt, same place) it’ll likely become a habit.

Thing is, doing an action consistently is what makes it a habit. What action(s) you choose, whether you do it well, or for how long—is not.

Which means that if you’re trying to create a habit, it doesn’t help to conflate the action with the routine.

Going to the gym everyday is not the same as breaking a sweat. And being mindful is not the same as sitting on the floor.

Isolating the habit from the action—making it as tiny and inconsequential as you need it to be—is the first step to sticking with a habit that lasts.