How To Set Up Your HabitSystem

You can find a myriad of books out there about creating good habits, and no doubt many of them have top-level content. The HabitSystem, however, is different. It not only provides you with valuable content, but it also shows you how to easily put the content into practice.

Simply knowing about self-development is one tiny part of the whole package. Action is much more important than intention. That is why this book focuses heavily on giving you the tools to implement the best habit concepts.

That’s what makes this book stand out among the crowd. While we have explored some theoretical background information, the basic premise of the HabitSystem is actually quite simple: do small things daily, get better by compounding these actions, and, as a result, be able to sustainably change every aspect of your life. That’s it. There is nothing more to it.

Except the part of doing all of this consistently. That is the part most people struggle with. Everyone knows that reading is good. We all know that working out regularly is important. It’s common knowledge that having a consistent sleep pattern is a healthy practice. All of this is not some secret knowledge, but just knowing all this will not put you in an advantageous position. What will help you, however, is having a proven plan at your disposal—The HabitSystem.

In the previous sections of this book, I provided you with the information needed to help you create this plan. Now I will equip you with a concise overview of how you can execute your HabitSystem over the course of time. Before we get right into it, I want to take some time to review the most important aspects.

• A HabitSystem is built slowly. You will fail if you overdo it in the beginning. The slogan is Start Slow Then Grow. Your life is a marathon, not a sprint. You have plenty of time to get better. Don’t try to change too much in too little time. Act on the most important habits first and ensure consistency.
• The most important thing about any HabitSystem is consistency. Nothing beats Daily Repetition. It is the fundamental and most essential aspect of your HabitSystem.
• Consistency is best achieved by Tracking your habits. Tracking your habits will reinforce the behavior and make it permanent.
• Tracking yields several benefits, including building a streak or momentum, enabling you to see your past success, building your self-confidence, and ensuring that you act daily and consistently.
• Skipping habits is a difficult topic. Part of your system includes a consistent strategy on how to handle challenging days—that is, days of illness, travel, and unforeseen events.

We distinguish three types of habits and slightly different approaches will be necessary for each.

• Your first habits should be Growth Habits. They yield the fastest benefits, and they will also feed back into your brain, thus creating the possibility to better your mindset.
• Behavioral Habits are often connected to a triggering situation and involve adopting a new habit to counter the undesired Behavioral Habit. You can use also triggers for your Growth Habits. That is part of developing your system.
• Mindset Habits are the ultimate goal and create the longest lasting change. Not surprisingly, they are also the hardest to acquire. Mindset Habits result from feedback from reality and are often the result of successful implementation of Growth Habits.

The maturity of your HabitSystem is a function of time. Time is your ally, not your enemy.

No matter how fast or slow a year goes by, everyone who has been developing a HabitSystem for one year has spent over 360 days doing so. Some people show a perfect track record—never having missed a single day. Other people have scored in the 90% success range which means that about 90% of the time, they were successful, with some occasional missed days. Anything below 90% is not a habit. If we look at one year, only having an accuracy of 90% would mean that about a whole month is missing. That is not consistent at all. In my first year, I scored 94% on my reading habit (I read on 343 out of 365 days). This is good, but far from a perfect result. However, my reading habit is now streaking at nearly a year.

You will achieve consistency over time. But first, you have to start. I want to give you the little push that makes you start—from there on, the work must be done by you.

Like the mature oak tree, you will firmly establish your roots with Actions and Simplicity. Your core, like the tree trunk, will continually grow with Daily Repetition and Tracking. And the sum of all the development you’ve created throughout your Habit Journey will become elaborate and full, like the lavish crown of a sturdy oak.

In case you skipped the very first sentences of this book, you should head back and read them. It’s not very much. If you have read them and forgotten them, also go back and reread.

I propose that your very first habit should be reading. No matter what you do, reading one page a day is so simple and will yield so many benefits, there is no reason not to do that. But what next?

Step 1—Think about what you want to do.

I am 100% sure that there are many things you’ve always wanted to do but have not yet done. Some skills you have always wanted to learn (Growth Habits), some bad habits you’ve always wanted to get rid of, or some Behavioral Habits you have always wanted to implement. Write all of them down! This is your long list.

I suppose there are many items on your long list. As you have learned, you cannot implement them all at once. You have to pick one. What is the most important thing to you out of that list? Think about it.

This will take some time, but don’t overthink it. Remember: done is better than perfect. Chances are, if you say there are too many important things on the list—and assuming you are not doing them already—they may not be that important after all.

OK. Now, select the one thing that will be your first (or second) habit—in case you want to ditch the reading habit, which, of course, you are free to do.

You can refer back to your long list in the future when you implement new habits.

Step 2—Simplify your habit.

Think about how you can reduce the one habit to a point where it’s so small that it can be done every day. Then cut that amount in half. If you want to learn Spanish every day for 10 minutes, go with 5 minutes. Your “normal” goal can be 10 minutes for most days (and preferably more), but in order to create a streak and gain consistency, your Completion Threshold should be really low.

Step 3—Decide which Tracking method to use.

If you are unsure which method to use, start with a piece of paper. Write down your habit and the dates of the next 30 days. Keep that paper with you or put it somewhere where you see it every single day.

Alternatively, download one of the recommended apps or set up a simple spreadsheet. Don’t over-engineer things. Remember the importance of Simplicity. You have plenty of time on your journey to beautify things in the future. Don’t let motivation fool you. What you do today means nothing. Only sustainable consistency counts.

Step 4—Complete one month.

Complete your habit every single day. If it is designed with the above-mentioned requirements in mind, this should be easy. You will realize that most of the days, you did a lot more than the minimum requirements. This is as it should be. But remember: on some days, you will be happy to just do the minimum. These days will come, inevitably. Such is life.

Step 5—Proceed on your journey.

As soon as you have completed one month, you can look back with a sense of accomplishment. Now you can think about adding a second habit to the mix. If you do not feel confident enough, stick to one habit for a bit longer. This is not some race where the person with the most habits wins. This is about what works for you in your life.

Step 6—Keep going.

After three months in, you can add a second or third habit to the mix. By now, you should have a solid understanding of what you are capable of. At this point, you can think about skipping methods if you have the confidence that you will stick to the rules.

Step 7—Develop your System.

After six months into your Habit Journey, you will see the first big changes in your mindset. Now you are free to do what you feel is necessary. You can add new habits, change habits, or ditch them. You can add analytical methods to your tracking, or you can modify habits. Do what you see fit. But always remember to keep the system flexible and simple, and stick to Daily Repetition.

Good luck!

P.S. If you ever wanted to write a book, the HabitSystem will help you in doing so. This very book was written using the HabitSystem approach. I just decided to work on it every day (including work related to the homepage, etc.). And before I knew it, I was finished. It took me less than 200 days, actually.

You can do it, too!