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Small wins are part of how keystone habits create widespread changes. A huge body of research has shown that small wins have enormous power, an influence disproportionate to the accomplishments of the victories themselves. “Small wins are a steady application of a small advantage,”
Concentrate on tiny moments of success and build them into mental triggers.
Keystone habit creates a structure that helps other habits to flourish.
At the core of that Starbucks education is an intense focus on an all- important habit: willpower. Dozens of studies show that willpower is the single most important keystone habit for individual success.
Students who exerted high levels of willpower were more likely to earn higher grades in their classes and gain admission into more selective schools.
“Highly self-disciplined adolescents outperformed their more impulsive peers on every academic- performance variable.” Self- discipline has a bigger effect on academic performance than does intellectual talent.”
And the best way to strengthen willpower and give students a leg up, studies indicate, is to make it into a habit.
Willpower is a learnable skill, something that can be taught the same way kids learn to do math and say “thank you.” As willpower muscles strengthened, good habits seemed to spill over into other parts of life.
“When you learn to force yourself to go to the gym or start your homework or eat a salad instead of a hamburger, part of what’s happening is that you’re changing how you think. People get better at regulating their impulses. They learn how to distract themselves from temptations. And once you’ve gotten into that willpower groove, your brain is practiced at helping you focus on a goal.”
“When you learn to force yourself to practice for an hour or run fifteen laps, you start building
self- regulatory strength. A five- year- old who can follow the ball for ten minutes becomes a sixth grader who can start his homework on time.”
Firms such as Starbucks— and the Gap, Wal- Mart, restaurants, or any other business that relies on entry- level workers— all face a common problem: No matter how much their employees want to do a great job, many will fail because they lack self- discipline. They show up late. They snap at rude customers. They get distracted or drawn into workplace dramas. They quit for no reason.
If someone has trouble with self- discipline at work, they’re probably also going to have trouble attending a program designed to strengthen their self- discipline after work.
The solution, Starbucks discovered, was turning self- discipline into an organizational habit.
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