People often think it's weird to get hyped about reading one page or meditating for one minute or making one sales call. But the point is not to do one thing. The point is to master the habit of showing up. The truth is, a habit must be established before it can be improved. If you can't learn the basic skill of showing up, then you have little hope of mastering the finer details. Instead of trying to engineer a perfect habit from the start, do the easy thing on a more consistent basis. You have to standardize before you can optimize.

The truth is, a habit must be established before it can be improved. If you can’t learn the basic skill of showing up, then you have little hope of mastering the finer details. Instead of trying to engineer a perfect habit from the start, do the easy thing on a more consistent basis. You have to standardize before you can optimize.

A habit must be established before it can be improved. If you can't learn the basic skill of showing up, then you have little hope of mastering the finer details. instead of trying to engineer a perfect habit from the start, do the easy thing on a more consistent basis. You have to standardize before you can optimize.

A quick and easy tip for building habits that last:

Pick a standard time and place to do it.

It's easier to wake up knowing "I exercise at 4pm" than to decide each time when to fit a habit into your day.

If it's already decided, all you need to do is show up.

If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection. You don’t need to map out every feature of a new habit. You just need to practice it. This is the first takeaway of the 3rd Law: you just need to get your reps in.

When determining the size or complexity of a new habit ask yourself: What can I stick to — even on my worst day?

Start there. Master the art of showing up. Then advance.

Going at it strong for a week or a month and then falling back into old habits is just like working for a week or a month on that plot of ground and then abandoning it. Before long, it will be no better than before. Each morning, and during the day, ask yourself this question: “How can I increase my service today, knowing that my rewards in life must be in exact proportion to my service?” Do this every day, and you will have started to form one of life’s most valuable habits.

Sometimes a habit will be hard to remember and you’ll need to make it obvious. Other times you won’t feel like starting and you’ll need to make it attractive. In many cases, you may find that a habit will be too difficult and you’ll need to make it easy. And sometimes, you won’t feel like sticking with it and you’ll need to make it satisfying.

Fill out the Habits Scorecard. Write down your current habits to become aware of them. 1.2 Use implementation intentions: “I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].” 1.3 Use habit stacking: “After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].” 1.4 Design your environment. Make the cues of good habits obvious and visible. The 2nd Law Make It Attractive

HABITS MANIFESTO What we do every day matters more than what we do once in a while. Make it easy to do right and hard to go wrong. Focus on actions, not outcomes. By giving something up, we may gain. Things often get harder before they get easier. When we give more to ourselves, we can ask more from ourselves. We’re not very different from other people, but those differences are very important. It’s easier to change our surroundings than ourselves. We can’t make people change, but when we change, others may change. We should make sure the things we do to feel better don’t make us feel worse. We manage what we monitor. Once we’re ready to begin, begin now.

Many people view their habits and routines as obstacles or, at the very least, obligations to get through. Making the morning coffee, driving your kids to the next activity, preparing the next meal—we often see our routines as chores to be completed.

But these are not moments to be dismissed. They are life. Making coffee can be a peaceful ritual—perhaps even a fulfilling one—if done with care rather than rushed to completion. It's about the amount of attention you devote to these simple moments, and whether you choose to appreciate them or bulldoze through them on the way to the next task.

Find the beauty and joy in your daily rituals and you will find beauty and joy in your daily life. To love your habits is to love your days, and to love your days is to love your life.

The key to developing a deep work habit is to move beyond good intentions and add routines and rituals to your working life designed to minimize the amount of your limited willpower necessary to transition into and maintain a state of unbroken concentration.

Carley: I was wondering if there are any pre-performance habits that you have before you go on stage.

Find your rituals, develop your routines, create those practices that ground and center you. Stick to them, don't apologize for them, treat them, even the small things, like they're big things.