Keystone Habits

Habits are killers, aren’t they? Well, sometimes, anyway. Bad ones run our lives amuck and ruin our health. But, on the other hand, good ones are the drivers that turn every effort into success.

There’s a new book out, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg, which studies how by simply changing one habit a person can totally turn their life around.
‘Keystone Habit’ is the name given to that transforming habit. A Keystone Habit can be any habit. Duhigg tells the story of one major corporation that went from near financial disaster to abundant profit in one year by focusing on one habit only, safety.

In 2009 a group of health researchers published how Tracking, that is, keeping a food journal, or writing down everything one eats, helped a study group of 1600 obese participants change their eating behaviors and lose weight. But surprisingly this Keystone Habit -- food journaling – did more, it created a structure that helped other habits to flourish. Six months into the study, people who kept daily food records had lost twice as much weight as everyone else.

Keystone Habits make our life better. God knows how true that is, and in the Bible suggests several, any one of which will change your life forever and for the good. Here are a few. Love God. Treasure God’s name. Pray daily. Worship weekly. Give your first and your best, i.e. tithe. Be thankful for everything. Forgive over and over again, even your enemy. Respect/honor your parents as long as you live. Feed the hungry. Visit those in prison. Welcome the stranger or sojourner in your midst. Oh, the list goes on and on.

Here’s the deal. Just pick one of God’s recommended habits. Commit to it daily. Track it daily. You will probably need an accountability partner to stay at it, so get one. And in no time your life will be more satisfying to you, more a blessing to others, and more glorifying of God.