For most people, big breaks in habits fall apart fast, while more gradual changes stick.

For example, many make resolutions to get fit, and start a bunch of related things. But since none of it is habitual, it requires mental effort to do consistently. Soon, something else important requires that mental attention, and the plan falls apart.

The successful ones aren’t special, but they created one, little, achievable metric to hit:

1. “Subscribe to 2 science-based fitness influencers and watch their content regularly”.

Because it was easy, it became habit. Then, they chose another simple thing to build on:

2. “Change evening commute to pass by gym”
3. “On Tuesdays, go into gym”
4. “Learn proper form for one excercise”
5. “Bring a protein shake”
6. etc.

Each of these is so small they don’t really feel significant at all. And they’re not. The important thing to understand is we’re all lazy. The real challenge isn’t getting yourself onto a diet or into the gym, it’s designing your habits so that the diet isn’t “a diet”, it’s just what you eat. It’s designing your life so that going to the gym requires less mental effort than not going.

I could write a lot more about this but it’s already getting long. Atomic Habits is a good book on how to design your habits and habit chains, if you have the time.