I am pretty obsessed with habits. For years, building and maintaining them has been at the center of my work with clients and myself. When I facilitate planning with a new group or coach someone new, we always begin with five keystone habits, which are:

 I draw an image like this to explain why keystone habits are so powerful:

Last month, while in Peru, I had a realization that should've hit me long ago about keystones: They don't just exist at the top of a perfectly formed arch; they're used anywhere a little extra something is needed for weight distribution. Here's an example from Machu Picchu:

The same is true in our own development of habits. Too often we think of the keystones as the unifiers of perfectly made systems. The truth is more complex and often less obvious. Keystones are the little habits that are force amplifiers. They help support the weightier stuff around them. That means they can show up anywhere and often are the most helpful, wedged between a rock and a hard place, seemingly at random.

The next time I teach a team or a founder about keystones, I'll draw it more like a wall from Machu Picchu and less like an archway at Notre Dame. 

Lourenia (Renia) Carsillo
Chief Strategist & Founder
Realign Consulting