👉 Why Your Habits Keep Failing (You’re Starting From the Wrong Step)

Introduction

You’ve tried it before.
“I’ll wake up at 5am every day.”
“I’ll stop scrolling TikTok before bed.”
“I’ll go to the gym 3 times a week.”

For the first few days, you’re excited. You feel unstoppable. But then—suddenly—you miss one day. Then two. Before you know it, the habit is gone, and the guilt sets in.

Here’s the truth: most habits don’t fail because you’re weak or undisciplined. They fail because you started at the wrong step.

And once you fix that? Building habits becomes way easier than you think.

1. Motivation is NOT the First Step

Most people wait for motivation to strike before starting a habit. But here’s the problem: motivation is unreliable. Some days you’ll feel it, most days you won’t.

👉 Example: That’s why your New Year’s resolutions fade so fast. You had motivation on January 1st… but by January 15th? It’s gone.

Instead, the first step should be making the habit ridiculously easy.

2. Start Small (Ridiculously Small)

If your goal is too big, your brain resists. The trick? Shrink it.

Want to read daily? Start with 1 page.
Want to exercise? Just put on your workout shoes.
Want to write? Write one sentence.

👉 Example: James Clear (author of Atomic Habits) calls this the “2-Minute Rule.” Any habit can be scaled down to 2 minutes. Once you begin, momentum usually takes over. Or you can read my previous post here.

3. Focus on Identity, Not Outcome

Most people set habits based on outcomes: “I want to lose 10kg,” or “I want to save $10,000.”

But lasting habits come from identity. You need to see yourself differently.

“I’m a reader” → not “I want to read more.”
“I’m a healthy person” → not “I want to lose weight.”
“I’m a writer” → not “I want to write a book.”

👉 When your identity shifts, habits stick naturally—because you’re just acting like the kind of person you believe you are.

4. Design Your Environment

Your willpower is weaker than your environment. If junk food is in the kitchen, you’ll eat it. If your phone is on your desk, you’ll scroll.

Instead, design your space to make good habits easy and bad habits hard.

Put your book on your pillow → you’ll read before bed.
Keep a water bottle on your desk → you’ll drink more water.
Hide your apps in a folder → less mindless scrolling.

👉 You don’t need more willpower—you need better design.

Conclusion

If your habits keep failing, it’s not because you’re lazy or broken. It’s because you started from the wrong step.

The first step isn’t motivation. It’s making the habit so easy, you can’t fail.

Start today. Pick one habit, shrink it down to the smallest version, and try it for just 2 minutes. That’s it. Watch how momentum grows from there.

💡 What’s one habit you’ve been struggling to build? Share it in the comments—I’d love to help.