In his book The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg coined the term "keystone habits," by which he meant habits that have far-reaching ramifications for a person’s life because they lead to the reshaping of many other habits. In short, keystone habits are life-changing, habit-forming habits.
One example of a particularly powerful keystone habit is a practice of writing every morning. Morning writing can help you start your day in a state of concentration, sharpness, and flow. That can have an abundance of downstream effects throughout your day. For example, you might be so energized by your writing session that you get inspired to start exercising.
Perhaps the ultimate keystone habit is the habit of writing and publishing about your habits. That is what I’ve been mostly writing about over these first eleven days of this year.
Writing about my habits has helped me to think through and plan my habit formation projects. It has also enhanced my implementation and accountability. Research has shown that writing out one’s intentions makes it more likely that you’ll follow through on them. And publishing my written habit resolutions is a powerful commitment device, because it makes me want to be able to report back success to you my readers.
Duhigg has provided a great service by popularizing the notion of keystone habits. One quibble I have, however, is with his name for that notion.
In architecture, keystones are key, but they don’t come first. They actually come last. The keystone is the stone that crowns an arch. Arches are built bottom-up. During construction, the arch stones are held up with scaffolding. The keystone is the final stone added that locks all the other stones into place, making the arch self-supporting. The scaffolding can then be removed.
You don’t build upon keystones, so they are not a very apt metaphor for habits that become the basis for additional habits. It would be more fitting to call those cornerstone habits. Here is how Wikipedia defines a cornerstone:
A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.
Writing and publishing about my habits is the cornerstone habit upon which I am rebuilding my whole structure of habits. And since, as Will Durant wrote, we are what we repeatedly do, by renovating my habits, I am building a better me.