You can’t order people to change. That’s not how the brain works. We have to start by focusing on one thing. And if we could start disrupting the habits around one thing, it would spread throughout the entire company.
Some habits have the power to start a chain reaction, changing other habits as they move through an organization. Some habits, in other words, matter more than others in remaking businesses and lives. These are “keystone habits,” and they can influence how people work, eat, play, live, spend, and communicate. Keystone habits start a process that, over time, transforms everything.
Keystone habits say that success doesn’t depend on getting every single thing right, but instead relies on identifying a few key priorities and fashioning them into powerful levers. The habits that matter most are the ones that, when they start to shift, dislodge and remake other patterns.
Keystone habits explain why some college students outperform their peers. They describe why some people, after years of trying, suddenly lose forty pounds while becoming more productive at work and still getting home in time for dinner with their kids.
Individuals have habits; groups have routines. Routines are the organizational analogue of habits. The best companies understood the importance of routines. The worst companies were headed by people who never thought about it, and then wondered why no one followed their orders.
Summing-up: If you focus on changing or cultivating keystone habits, you can cause widespread shifts. Keystone habits create a base that helps build other positive habits easily.