#13 build keystone habits
focus this year on building habits that can give exponential returns
Hello friends, a very happy new year to you all! I hope you all had a great time with your family and loved ones.
I wanted to thank you all for subscribing to this newsletter. I started in mid-September last year to build a habit of writing regularly, but never thought that by the end of 2024, we will be a community of 50+ members. Grateful to you all :)
I have started a WhatsApp group to share notes on the information I consume regularly in health and longevity. If curious, do join in!
I spent my last week thinking about how my 2024 was and the things I want to focus on in 2025.
Last year, I explored extensively (traveling to six countries) and built conviction and took steps in the area where I want to work for at least a decade: health and longevity. And in 2025, I will be focusing on going deep into the sector.
I remember that at the beginning of 2024, I made a conscious choice not to set specific goals but to focus on building habits that could potentially compound over time and give exponential returns.
This shift in paying attention on building habits vs focusing on achieving goals helped me create certain sustainable systems that had a positive effect on multiple areas of my life.
These habits were majorly focused on improving my health and wellbeing. And, because of the benefits that I saw and still experience by building these habits, I believe every new year we should focus on creating healthy habits rather than focusing on achieving goals.
In today’s edition, I will try to explain:
why I feel focusing on goals can be crippling
how building habits can be more beneficial in long term
and, the basic keystone habits and routines that I built last year
Goals can be crippling
In the beginning of every year, we set certain goals for ourselves. These goals could be - losing 20 kg weight, saving $5,000 by the end of the year, getting a promotion, going to the gym 4x per week etc.
I have noticed that when I make such goals and focus a lot on the outcome, I am motivated to perform the activity for a few days. But after sometime, this motivation and discipline kind of goes away and I am back to my baseline - to the person I was before.
Reflecting on this behaviour, I realized that it could be because of three reasons - 1) there is always a compulsion in my mind to perform the activity or else I will risk failing to achieve the intended goal; 2) this compulsion adds a lot of tension and pressure which is not sustainable, feels forceful and is draining; and, 3) it is demotivating when I do not see the results after performing the activity for a few days.
By this, I do not mean that goals are not important, they certainly are. But the kind of attention we pay to them makes us focus a lot on the outcome and less on the process. And, this behaviour of focusing on the end point takes away the fun and enjoyment and decreases the longevity of performing such activity.
Hence, I feel that focusing on goals can be crippling and unsustainable.
Building habits can be more beneficial in long term
Creating habits involves performing an activity repetitively, which might seem less exciting compared to the idea of setting and achieving goals.
But in my experience, when I focus on building certain habits, the compulsion and tension to perform the activity is gone. I am more flexible, adaptable and consistent. And as a result, I have more fun and enjoyment in the process.
This happens because the objective of habits is not to achieve any end outcome. The only objective of a habit is to do it regularly until our neural circuitry is shaped such that not performing the activity feels odd and uncomfortable.
When focusing on goals, there is a lot of negativity involved and it feels too intense. The entire process makes us miserable and overwhelmed, which then makes us drop the goal and return to where we were.
Therefore, I think it is a better investment of our finite energy to focus on habits. Habits reduces the decision fatigue and compound over time.
But this doesn’t mean that we should not have goals for ourselves. It is fine to still have goals, but the focus of our mind should be on the habits that underlie that goal. The goal conquering then becomes a side effect of creating these habits.
For example, if you want to lose 20 kg weight, shift the attention to eating whole foods regularly, walking instead of taking a cab etc. Then the goal achievement (loosing weight) will be inevitable and the weight loss will be sustainable because these habits will ensure you do not gain it back.
Healthy keystone habits I built last year
There are some habits that are more impactful than the other habits. These are sometimes referred to as the Keystone Habits.
Keystone habits are the habits that once adopted, will reverberate into other areas of our life, which makes acquiring other desirable habits more natural and require less effort.
For example, getting over the addiction of alcohol or other drugs is hard. But some studies have shown that taking up any form of exercise reduces stress, improves mood and alters brain’s chemistry to reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Here exercising regularly is a keystone habit that makes it easy to reduce/ stop the consumption of addictive drugs.
These habits have a higher rate of return and increases the richness of our life exponentially.
There are three healthy habits that I built last year which are having positive effect on other areas of my life too:
Exercising: exercising regularly has multiple benefits - it improves mood, reduces the risk of certain diseases such as cardiovascular issues, diabetes etc. and keeps us energetic throughout. One simple strategy that helped me adopt this habit was to start with simple and basic practices - 30 mins of walk daily, then once I started doing this regularly, I started going for runs every weekend and going to the gym to lift weights.
Meditating: meditating regularly improves focus and cognitive performance, enhances the mood, reduces stress, improves sleep quality, increases self awareness and reduces inflammation and pain. Again starting with just a few minutes a day helped me practice it consistently. I use the Waking Up app that has really helpful meditation practices and theory.
Cooking: I think most people do not eat well because they are not capable of controlling what ingredients go into their food. And, I picked up this habit because I wanted to have this control over what I am eating. It might feel as if this is a very time consuming process, but believe me it is not. Benefits of cooking are not that obvious as the benefits of exercising or meditating. But in my experience, it has helped me make informed choices about what I am eating and has improved my health overall. Also, there is a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that comes with cooking my own food. This then has positive effects on my mood and overall wellbeing.
CLICK on the image to get my recipes
All three habits that I have picked up helps me be more creative, improves my energy and mood and most importantly solves for my health and wellbeing.
This year focus on building certain keystone habits that can grow exponentially and drive growth and change. I have noticed at times there is a desire in me to do complicated stuff, but seeing this thought consciously and reminding myself that starting simple will ensure the longevity of performing a habit has helped a lot.
Remember: build habits first and optimize later!
pictures are v appetizing