Show Me The Lock

Habits are a loop, whose results compound.

You can have a good or a bad habit with significant long-term ramifications.

Philip Dormer Stanhope says it well (h/t to James Clear):

And I agree with all of this. Especially the last sentence, or at least the desire to do just what he suggests.

But the reality is that we have a mix of good and bad habits, and we have to make net-good average use out of them.

These are complicated by the good and the bad habits of others. We aren't alone in the world, and neither are our actions, or the snowballing results of our actions and therefore our habits.

The most important thing we can do is to help ourselves and those we love develop simple habits that compound in the right direction.

Every great and terrible leader you can think of did this.

Every great and terrible artist created some work that triggers habitual reflections that also did this.

So why not you, too? Why not me, too?

If habits are the key, then just show me the lock.

(You on point reader? If you said all the time, Matt, you’re ready for 2026.)