The Byproducts of Mastering a Keystone Habit

It seems those who are growing the fastest — those who are intentional and proactive with their lives — all have something in common.

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They start by changing a single habit until they have mastered it. This clears the way for some powerful momentum to take over.

There is an incredible phenomenon which happens when you master a keystone habit.

It may not matter which habit, either!

For us it was money. We were exposed to Dave Ramsey and latched onto the wisdom of what he teaches about getting out of debt and living on less than you make. We read many books on the topic. We discussed it with friends and coworkers, collecting the best of everyone’s experience and insight — and discarding the rest!

It all started to make sense. We put into action what we learned by piling money onto our loans like buckets of water on a fire. We punched debt in the face! We are now debt-free and will never go back.

This was incredibly empowering, and had wonderful byproducts. Though the original exercise was purely financial, but it bled into other areas.

Insert momentum here.

We figured out wills and life insurance. We got rid of a bunch of stuff and simplified our lifestyle drastically. We sold one of our beaters and bought a nicer used car.

We even started taking more walks.

And it can all be traced to proactively mastering a keystone habit regarding money.

Growth begets growth.

For a friend, it was fitness. He now works out several times every week. The boost to his confidence and energy have been huge and undeniable.

The tremendous encouragement he found through fitness fueled him to take on new challenges.

This is the power of mastering a keystone habit.

What is your keystone habit?

Here are some ideas: Lose weight. Get a better job. Attend church regularly. Get serious help with a bad habit. Live on your own. Grow deeper relationships with friends. Smile while you talk. Delegate the tasks you hate doing. Get up early and read every morning. Throw away your television.

Any one of these may be just what you need — a keystone habit for you to work on.

Put all of your energy into following through.

And let the progress you make build momentum to carry you through the next milestone. And the next.

Growth begets growth.


No really — what is your keystone habit? What will you work on now to open the door for future growth?