I Built Habits for the Wrong Reason

Below is a weekly summary I send to my personal trainer. I’m sharing it not because it’s impressive, but because it’s normal.

This is genuinely what a typical week looks like for me now. A decent amount of training. Plenty of steps. Solid sleep. Lots of protein and mostly whole foods.

What still surprises me is this: a few years ago, this level of consistency would have felt unimaginable.

Not because I didn’t care about health or wasn’t trying. I just didn’t yet have the capability for it.

And that’s been the biggest shift for me. I used to think habits were the goal, and that they would make me healthy. And yes, they do build health. But they ended up playing a different and far more important role.

They built a baseline of capability. A level of put-together-ness (yeah, I just made that word up).

What’s interesting is that you sometimes only see a higher baseline clearly once you’ve reached it, and then briefly lose parts of it.

Before this, I’d normalised feeling tired, foggy, and under-capable. Life often just felt harder than it needed to be. Now, a few nights of poor sleep is enough to bring that contrast back. It’s a reminder of how different things feel when the foundations are in place.

When that baseline is in place, weeks like this stop requiring willpower. They become something I can keep doing, even when life gets messy.

And 2025 was definitely messy for me, both personally and professionally. What kept me steady was the capability I’d built before, and then kept reinforcing through the year.

Despite the changes and challenges, I finished the year with a stronger foundation, more capable, and in the best shape and health of my life.

As I move into the second month, the focus stays the same: keep the baseline strong, tighten a few weak spots, and finish integrating my most recent habit — meditation.

This habit stuff isn’t a phase anymore. It’s the way I live now. I’ve felt what life is like without a baseline and I’m not interested in going back.

So, now, let’s turn it back to you.

What will you do this year to build your own baseline of capability?