How to start (and maintain) a healthy habit (2025)

This is not just about the things you have to do, but also the things you think you want to do. Maybe you think you should learn Spanish, but you haven’t done anything to actually learn Spanish. Admitting that you are not really committed to the idea enough to do the work of learning Spanish can help close this loop. Letting go of that feeling that you have to learn Spanish just might be the thing that frees your mind enough to decide take paddleboarding on a whim. The point is that the new year is not just a time to start something new. It’s time to let go of things from the past that no longer serve you.

In many ways, this is the antidote to that ever-so-popular “Just do it” slogan. Just do it it implies that you don’t have to think about it, instead of deciding what you really want to do or should do. Maybe spend some time remembering why you wanted to do it in the first place, and if those reasons no longer resonate with you, just not do it.

If you like this idea, I highly recommend you pick up Allen’s book. He goes into much more detail about this idea and has some practical tips for letting it go. You can also keep track of these things, in case you decide, years from now, when you’re paddleboarding across the Sea of ​​Cortez, that you now really want to learn Spanish and are willing to do the work.

Remember to Live

I confess, my enthusiasm for Do things has declined over the years. Not because the system doesn’t work, but because I’ve found my life most dramatically improved by doing less, not more. It’s not that I stopped doing things. It’s that I found a lot of the things I felt I should do weren’t really my idea; They were ideas I internalized from other places. I didn’t really want to do them, so I didn’t, so I felt guilty about it.

While everything I’ve written above remains good advice to start a healthy habit and maintain it, it’s worth spending some time and making sure you know why you want to do what you’re doing. I reread it by Bertrand Russell In praise of leisureand this line jumped out at me: “Modern man thinks that everything must be done for something else, and never for his own.”

In the case of habits, I think it’s worth considering if you want to start a habit because you love what the habit is or because you think it should because it will make you happier or healthier or more successful. Doing things because you really love them for their own sake is much more likely to lead to success.

Do the work

As one of my writing teachers used to say, to be a writer you have to park your ass in a chair and actually write. To be a yogi, you have to do yoga. To run, you have to run. There is no easy way around it. You have to put on your adult pants and do the job.

However, on the other hand, as Clear points out at the beginning Atomic habitsThe way to change who you are is to change what you do. “Every time you write a page, you are a writer. Every time you practice the violin, you are a musician. Every time you start a workout, you are an athlete.” Every time you do the work, you become the future you want to be.