Fifty weeks ago, after reading Mini-Habits by Stephen Guise, I decided I wanted to develop a daily push-up habit.

I started with my Why, I chose a reliable cue and I took action.

In Week 1, I did ONE push-up a day.

That was it. No more. No less.

In Week 2, I did two push-ups a day. In Week 3, I did three push-ups a day. And so on and so on…

It’s Week 50 and today, I 50 push-ups.

I’ve learned a lot about habit formation and making change stick over the past 50 weeks so today, I want to share 10 lessons I learned from developing a daily push-up habit. These lessons are applicable to any change you might be making.

Let’s get started.

1. Baby Steps Trump Big Leaps

Despite having a personal best of 20 push-ups before I began developing my daily push-up habit, I decided to start Week 1 with one push-up a day. Why? I wanted to make the habit so easy I couldn’t say no (HT: Leo Babauta).

Many people attempt to make changes in their lives by taking big leaps, when, instead, they should focus on ONE tiny change at a time. For example, going to the gym for 15-minutes a day, twice a week, as a beginner, is A LOT easier than going for an hour, five days a week.

Similarly, by starting at one push-up a day, I had 20 weeks to automatize the habit and before I even arrived at my personal best in Week 20. Having that momentum behind me made showing up and doing the work a lot easier. This leads me to the next lesson I learned…

2. Consistency is Everything

The more I study habit formation the more I realize the habit is not counting calories, going to the gym, writing in your journal, completing a project, decluttering, reading … it’s STARTING.

There are going to be days when you don’t feel like doing the habit, but if you commit to taking the first step – opening the app, picking up your gym bag, turning on your laptop, writing one sentence, turning on your Kindle – you’re a lot more likely to follow through with the full behavior.

There were many days when I didn’t “feel” like it, when I rationalized, “one day won’t hurt” when I couldn’t be bothered – but I still committed to taking the first step: getting into the push-up position. If all I did was that, I always followed through with my push-ups.

3. Don’t be Afraid to Chunk Habits Down

When you take baby steps, the habit is easy to start and easy to sustain. But as you graduate to the full behavior, it grows and you risk jeopardizing your progress.

To prevent this from happening, chunk the habit down into smaller manageable segments.

When I arrived at Week 20, for example, I chunked my 20 push-ups into two sets of 10 with one-minute rest time. As behavior change writer James Clear says, “Do things you can sustain.”

4. Set Milestones (and Celebrate Them)

If you’re a long-time reader, you’ll know I’m a strong advocate of “gamifying” habit development and playing “small, addictive games” (HT: Daniel Coyle). When building a habit, there are many milestones you can celebrate including:

Doing the habit once

Doing the habit two days in a row

Doing the habit seven days in a row

Doing the habit 30 days in a row

Missing one day but resuming the next

And so on.

You can also celebrate achievements related to metrics. For example, doing 10 push-ups was a milestone for me, as one 25 and, of course, 50.

Remember, if you can count it, you can turn it into a game.

5. Focus on Process Over Product

Most people, when making changes in their lives, focus on that perfect outcome they’re trying to achieve. Losing 14 pounds. Writing 10,000 words. Deadlifting 150 pounds. Seldom, though, do people strive for a perfect process.

When I was developing my daily push-up habit, I wasn’t thinking about a number I wanted to move toward; I was thinking about each individual push-up and perfecting it to the best of my ability. You don’t set out to build a wall; you say, “I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid.”

6. Use Existing Habits as Cues

Almost all cues fit into one of five categories:

Location Time of day Other people Emotional state Immediately preceding action

An immediately preceding action, in my experience, is the most reliable cue. Why? You can use an existing habit as a trigger (read: Habit Stacking). Writer Tynan suggests using constant cues as triggers for new habits. These are behaviors that happen every day such as waking up, eating, going to the bathroom, etc.

I chose to do my daily push-up habit immediately after showering because it’s an activity I do every day. Fifty weeks in, it hasn’t failed me once.

7. Self-Discipline is Knowing When to Stop

Most people think of self-discipline as something to rely on to start a habit. Saying, “I don’t have the self-discipline to go to the gym” is a common example.

What I’ve come to realize, though, is self-discipline is something that we rely on to stop a habit as well. When I was developing my daily push-up habit, in the beginning, I had to rely on my self-discipline to not do more than I was capable of.

This requires a lot of patience and if ignored, can be your undoing.

8. Labeling Makes a Big Difference

When you decide to make a change in your life, do you say you have to do it or you get to do it? When you label a behavior as something you get to do, rather than something you have to do, it becomes a choice, a reminder of how lucky you are.

Labeling goes beyond reframing, too. When I began building my daily push-up habit, I labeled it as an “experiment.” I was gauging what was working, what wasn’t and what could be improved. As far as I was concerned, I couldn’t fail – I could only learn from feedback.

9. Get Others Involved

Around Week 12, my wife, Luba, got involved. She would critique my form, encourage me, and remind me if I forgot to do my habit. Sometimes she would even join in. Sharing my experience with a loved one made it far more enjoyable.

If you’re trying to help a loved one make a change in their life, do it with them – it’s one of the most effective ways to inspire them to change.

10. Keep Going

I never planned on doing 50 push-ups. I just decided to run a habit-forming experiment. When you engineer systems into your life and business, change comes more easily. It simply becomes a by-product of what you’re already doing.

I don’t intend to stop anytime soon. I’m having way too much fun.

One hundred—I’m coming for you.

Are you currently developing a new habit? If so, what habit are you building? Leave a comment below.