TL;DR

Habits are a powerful instrument for personal change.
But habits can also be a trap—a foolish consistency, in Emerson’s words—that restricts growth.
Therefore, we’d be well-served to take inventory of our habits so we can 1) double-down on what’s working, and 2) change or cut what’s not.
Similar to how a bunny hops one direction, looks around, then hops again in a different direction, we’d be wise to reflect, iterate, and improve our habits as we hop through life.

Wabbits

Rabbits are known for their adorable cuteness, agility, and reproductive skills. I always wanted one growing up, but I don’t think our family cat Amber would have approved. Rabbits are fascinating, social creatures:

Some rabbits can hop 3 feet high (almost 5 times their height).
Mother rabbits are pregnant for one month and can birth up to 14 rabbits in a single litter.
Contrary to Bugs Bunny’s snack of choice, carrots are not a natural part of their diet and can actually cause upset stomachs if overfed.
Rabbits purr when they’re happy :)
Rabbits produce more than 100 poop pellets per day due to their high-fiber diet.
Typical lifespan of a rabbit is 5-10 years.
The largest rabbit in the world weighs 55 pounds. His name is Ralph.

Ralph, the largest rabbit in the world

Rabbits and habits

Now that we’ve met Ralph, let’s explore one of the hallmarks of rabbit life: hopping. Indeed, rabbits are known to hop. A lot! Their powerful hind legs can thrust at 50mph, helping them evade predators.

However, when rabbits are in a more contemplative mood, they tend to plop around rather carefully. They hop, bunny-sniff around, take in the surroundings, then hop again. They take the time to evaluate prior to their next hop.

What could we learn from this simple rabbit behavior?

In the rhythm of life, taking a moment to pause, exhale and reflect is so critical to our evolution. If we just hopped along our whole lives—subconsciously pulled by life’s inertia—we miss countless opportunities to improve. This is profoundly true when it comes to our habits which, in countless ways, shape our life.

Perhaps Aristotle & Durant said it best:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

*Aristotle actually said “Virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions,” which Will Durant interpreted as the above quote.

These mere 14 words impart much wisdom. Achieving excellence is seldom a single act, but rather a repeated series of habits.

But how do we know if our habits are serving us? We channel our inner habit rabbit.

What is a habit rabbit?

A habit rabbit is a rhyme-tastic metaphor for a person who takes the time to regularly reflect on their habits. At risk of sounding too meta: they have a habit of investigating their habits.

Instead of sprinting head first through life—driven primarily by subconscious desires—they schedule time to review their habits and assess:

Discipline: our ability to do control our instincts and do things consistently.
Effectiveness: is the habit having the intended outcome (working or not).

Personally, I review my habits quarterly. That’s the habit rabbit cadence that works for me. It takes me about 2-3 hours on the first day of the quarter.

Discipline

So many people work hard on their jobs, but they don’t work hard on their futures. They let that slide. Mediocre people don’t know if they’re winning or losing. Don’t let that be you.  —Jim Rohn, The Art of Exceptional Living

How good are you at doing what you say you’re going to do?

Given the corrosive nature of the human ego, and our brain’s vulnerability to cognitive dissonance, I know of no better way to answer this question than to use math.

Math holds us accountable.

Math is objective and seldom lies.

Otherwise, we lie to ourselves.

We say we’re going to eat healthy and exercise, but instead we order pizza and watch Netflix. Similarly, when people sign up for gyms as part of their New Years resolution, 80% of them are gone by mid-February. But I digress.

For any given habit, I consider 80% attainment a win. For example, if I aim to floss every day (for, say, 90 days in a quarter), I consider myself successful/disciplined if I can floss for 72 of the 90 days (80%).

You can read more about my approach to goal-setting here.

Let’s look at the results for a subset of my personal goals in Q1-2021. [I tally before bed each night.]

>80%: Successful, disciplined habits include journaling, flying once/week going to bed by 10pm, reading, learning regiment, and writing in my 5-Minute Journal (thank you Chris!).

<80%: Unsuccessful, undisciplined habits include monthly reflections, weekly reflection, practicing guitar, writing my book, and reciting my mantra.

In summary, I was disciplined for 6 of these 11 habits (55%). Not my best showing. But at least I know where I’m winning and losing and can address it.

Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day. Jim Rohn, The Art of Exceptional Living

Effectiveness

But the next question is arguably more important: are these habits getting me where I want to go? i.e. Are they effective?

This is the habit trap—what Emerson calls a ‘foolish consistency’—that can lead us astray. In the words of Derek Sivers:

Success comes from persistently improving and inventing, not from persistently doing what’s not working.  —Derek Sivers

This is where our inner habit rabbit is crucial: We need to take the time to be “persistently improving and inventing,” not just mechanically doing the things that aren’t working.

For example, let’s look at a specific habit of mine in Q1-2021 (7th down the list):

I will go to bed by 10pm 3x per week.

My attainment for this habit was 125% (did 45 vs. goal of 36) for the quarter—pretty good. But a savvy habit rabbit will ask: WHY do you want to go to bed by 10pm, i.e. what is the intended outcome of this goal?

Simple answer: I want to sleep well and feel more rested.

So did the habit work? According to my Garmin Forerunner 945, on average I slept 8 hours and 10 minutes per night in Q1-2021. SOLID. This is the key insight a habit rabbit unlocks.

Iterate, iterate, iterate

The last step is to ask how this habit could be improved, regardless of whether I achieved it or not.

If I was successful in my discipline for a given habit (>80%), but didn’t achieve the intended outcome, clearly something isn’t working.
If I was unsuccessful in my discipline for a given habit (<80%), then I need to figure out why. This is where a habit rabbit learns a TON about their own nature.
- I’ve started tracking why I fail, and it usually comes down to one of three things: 1) lack of a systematic trigger, 2) I signed up for a habit I wasn’t passionate about, 3) the habit itself was poorly defined (often lacking specificity).
Even if the habit is successful (disciplined + effective), I still want to iterate. Maybe going to bed by 10pm 3x per week is a sandbag goal. Why not 4x or 5x per week?

Jump, reflect, jump!

Habit rabbit