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What habits do you take for granted?

The best habits often become invisible over time. That includes the helpful ones you’ve formed in the past.

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Chances are you have a whole bunch of helpful habits you’re currently taking for granted.

With enough repetition, a habit not only becomes automatic: it eventually becomes invisible—so integrated into our life that we no longer think about it. We all have habits that actively provide us with dividends: reading rituals, morning and nighttime routines, exercise regimens, and more.

If you had to make a list of the invisible habits you take for granted, what would be on the list?

Here are a few that would be on mine:

  • Hitting the goals on my fitness tracker every day;
  • My daily 30-minute meditation ritual;
  • Drinking green tea instead of coffee;
  • Multiple date nights each week with my wife;
  • Messaging a family group chat (which has become a thread that winds through my day);
  • Frequent intermittent fasts.

We tend to obsess over the habits we’re struggling to form, the ones we can’t quite stick with. But chances are you have a lot more things that you’re doing right—including some habits you’ve made an effort to form in the past that have since stuck.

It’s worth reflecting on the habits you’ve formed that have become so engrained that you now take them for granted. Doing so might even give you the motivation to build on them so they provide even greater benefits in the future.

Chris Bailey
About the author

Chris Bailey

Chris is the bestselling author of four books—Intentional, How to Calm Your Mind, Hyperfocus, and The Productivity Project—which have been published in more than 40 languages. He also hosts the Intentional AI podcast, writes a biweekly newsletter, The Recap, and speaks to audiences around the world on how they can become more productive without hating the process.

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