Most years I am in the gym in January and it is packed. I cannot get on equipment because everyone is pursuing their New Year’s resolution to lose weight. There is lots of energy and many people. This year has been similar, but not as many people.
Then the middle of January hits. 
The numbers are back to what they used to be. People tried, but didn’t create a habit. Maybe this is you already. In his book The Power of Habit Charles Duhigg discusses the process of building habits which you can read here. According to cognitive neuroscientist expert Caroline Leaf, it takes 21 days to change a habit at a neurophysiological level and 63 days to make it permanent!
When we’ve made this change we have created something lasting.
Keystone Habits
I have a friend who recently started training to run a mini-marathon. In the beginning he was getting up and running on a daily basis. Around the time the weather got colder he had a few weeks lull in his training. Do you know what happened?
Not only was he not performing at his peak physically, but his performance and focus at work dropped as well. This illustrates the power of a what Duhigg calls a keystone habit.
“keystone habits encourage change: by creating structures that help other habits to flourish.”
My friend had developed a habit that impacted everything else in his life in a positive way. This key habit can be a personal change or an organizational habit change. Maybe in your organization by changing the order taking and filling process everything else will be positively and powerfully impacted. This is a keystone habit.
Willpower
Just like my friend, it takes willpower . . . at least in the beginning. Whether organizationally within a culture or on a personal level Duhigg found:
“Dozens of studies show that willpower is the single most important keystone habit for individual success.”
If it requires over three months for a habit to be permanently ingrained, then as leaders we have to be disciplined to promote the change in our culture. The change starts with us. My friend joined a gym so he could run and strength train and began seeing his performance at work improve again, but he had to choose that path.
Make it Personal
We all have felt the exhaustion of driving on pure willpower. We can only push so hard for so long and as leaders we do not want to be “pushing” our teams all the time. What can help make the shift? Again, Duhigg makes an excellent observation:
“When people are asked to do something that takes self-control, if they think they are doing for personal reasons – if they feel like it’s a choice or something they enjoy because it helps someone else – it’s much less taxing.”
If we are making a personal habit change this idea is simple, but applying this on an organizational level is more challenging. Take time to help individuals align this key habit with their personal goals and the habit will stick. When our team personalizes and sees the value of the habit for them, we shift from pushing to a keystone habit.
What is the one key habit that would impact multiple areas of your life personally? If you lead an organization or team what key habit would most impact results? Need help thinking into this? Contact me for a no cost one on one thinking partner session. Lead Well.
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