At the start of every new year, millions of people wake up motivated.
They buy new running shoes, sign up for a gym membership, download another habit tracker.
Some keep going for months, but most stop before the excitement fades. Yet a small group succeeds in building a lasting habit.
What do they do differently?
Let’s make it practical. Imagine your goal is to lose weight. Most people immediately think about what they need to add, more exercise, a better diet and a stricter routine.
But losing weight doesn’t start with adding more, It starts by removing.
Removing isn’t the goal, but creates the conditions for progress. The people who succeed understand this.
Before they focus on burning more calories, they stop consuming the ones they don’t need.Before they build a morning routine, they stop scrolling late into the night. Before they become consistent, they remove the habits that make consistency impossible.
That’s the part we often overlook. We think successful habits are built by adding new behaviours. No, they are built by removing the behaviours that were standing in the way.
Creating better habits doesn’t start with the question: “What should I start doing?”
It starts with a different question:
What should I remove before I add something new?