Today, we’re going to continue our discussion of keystone habits and picking your guiding master habit.

How do you implement more keystone habits?

Yesterday we saw that there are plenty of keystone habits that varsity student athletes tend to complete on a daily basis. Any of these life-changing habits has the potential to create a chain reaction on nearly every aspect of your life.

Here are some more examples of keystone habits which might work for you (thanks for all the great ideas!):

• Make your bed as soon as you wake up
• Working out every morning at the same time
• Studying for school for an hour immediately when you get home from school
• Going to bed at a regular time every night
• Waking up at a regular time every morning
• Go outside for a walk to get some fresh air every day
• Replacing junk food in your diet with healthy alternatives
• Include vegetables and fruits in every meal
• Drink more water each day (6-8 glasses)
• Read a book for at least 20 minutes every day
• Every evening review your day and think if there is anything you could have done differently to have had a more positive outcome
• Clean up whatever you’re doing as soon as you are finished
• Do yoga every day
• Write in a journal every day (set goals, do a self-reflection, etc.)
• Shooting pucks every evening after dinner
• Compliment one friend and one stranger every day (try to pick friends each day)
• Replace excessive screen time with stickhandling
• Warm up with dynamic stretching prior to games and practices to help prevent injuries
• Watch a short hockey training video every day. Think about how I can incorporate it into my training, or not.
• Drink a full glass of water before every meal
• Meditating every morning at the same time
• Planning your day the night before
• Try something new every day
• Challenge yourself to get 1% better every day

But what if we are able to complete several of these every day? Certainly, that’s what we’d like to do.

Here are a few ways to encourage you to implement your keystone habits.

Habit Stacking

You already connect many of your habits without even thinking about it.

For example, when you wake up each morning you likely have a set of steps you follow without even thinking about it.

1. Get out of bed at the last minute.
2. Brush your teeth.
3. Take a shower.
4. Waste time figuring out what to wear.
5. Eat a bowl of sugary cereal.
6. Rush out the door to catch the school bus (maybe you forgot something?)

Your brain already connects these and thousands of other daily habits together. You can take advantage of these strong connections to build new habits. This is called Habit Stacking.

One of the best ways to introduce new habits that will stick is to identify a current habit that you already do each day and then stack a new habit with it.

Let’s take a look at the waking up example again. What if we were to make a few simple modifications. Get out of bed a few minutes earlier at a fixed time every day. Drink a large glass of water. Use the extra time to do 10 minutes of stretching or yoga. Replace the sugary cereal with some yogurt, whole wheat toast and an avocado.

1. Get out of bed at 7am.
2. Drink a large glass of water.
3. Brush your teeth.
4. 10 minutes of stretching or yoga.
5. Take a shower.
6. Get dressed in clothes selected the night before.
7. Eat some yogurt, whole wheat toast and an avocado.
8. Pack a nutritious lunch and water bottle.
9. Calmly walk to the bus, primed for a successful day.

How much better does this look? And yet, with a little bit of planning and effort, it wouldn’t be that difficult to turn this into our everyday routine.

Coach Steve’s Guiding Master Habit

One final trick your can use to help implement your keystone habits is to make your Guiding Master Habit support several of your desired keystone habits.

Here is my Guiding Master Habit:

Every evening, I take a few minutes make a very simple plan.

A typical plan for the first hour of my day:

1. Get out of bed by 7am.
2. Drink a large glass of water. I usually take one to bed with me so the glass is handy.
3. Brush my teeth.
4. 10 minutes of stretching and movement preparation. Some days this might be yoga.
5. 30 minutes of strength training (Legs and back workout). Workouts vary. Alternating days I might run, cycle or use a rowing machine.
6. Shower and get dressed.
7. Make a cup of green tea.
8. Eat some yogurt, whole wheat toast and an avocado.

Most days this routine is very similar, but the specifics (like the workout or breakfast food) change day to day.

A typical plan for my first hour at work:

1. Boot up my computer.
2. Spend one hour working on my most important project. Most days this is writing of some sort. A report, campaign or script for a video I’m working on.
3. Make the most important phone call of the day.
4. Stretch my legs and drink a glass of water.

Again, most days this routine is very similar, but the specifics (like my most important project or the person I’m going to call) change day to day.

Only once I’ve completed this hour do I allow myself to check my phone for messages or emails.

By the time my first hour at work is completed, I’ve already got my important things done. Regardless of what else happens during my day, I’ve already been successful.

Over time, these routines have become almost entirely automatic.

Resources:

Atomic Habits – by James Clear

The Power of Habit – by Charles Duhigg

Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything – by B.J. Fogg

https://chains.cc/ – Free and easy to use chain tracking app for iOS and web site. It can be used for multiple goals and even by groups of people with the same goal.

Today’s Assignment:

1. Complete today’s workout on the TeamBuildr app. Be sure to mark each exercise complete as you finish it. Depending on your schedule (other sports, work, etc.) it is okay to complete the exercises on another day or even substitute an alternate workout provided that the difficultly level is similar. Please make note of any substitutions or switches as part of the daily check in item in the TeamBuildr app.
2. Create a habit stack of 3-5 items. Think about how and when you could include this in your day. Post your answer to the team WhatsApp group.
3. Plan out one important hour of your day. This could be the first hour after you wake up or maybe the first hour after you get home from school. Pick an hour that you think will help you the most. Try to include several keystone habits that over time will help you reach your goal. Be as specific as possible. Would your role model approve?