What it takes to turn goals into habits
For as long as I can remember, I’ve failed to keep New Year’s resolutions. The way I eat and exercise, the way I spend time and money, the way I hang out with my wife and kids, use social media, watch TV, etc etc: I’ve tried to tackle it all, and sometimes even all at once.
Does this sound familiar to you? If you live in modern America, chances are it does.
The power of habit
Two years ago, I read a book called The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. It’s a self-help book that investigates the patterns of our personal and professional lives, what they say about us and how to hack them.
In the book, the author argues that habits exist on a hierarchy in which one begets another, begets another, etc. At the top of that hierarchy is a “keystone” habit: the one upon which all the others rely. In architecture, the term keystone describes the stone at the top of an arch that holds all the others in place, defying the gravity that tries to pull them to the ground. So, according to this philosophy, when I tackle all of my habits at once, I’m actually just spinning my wheels; there’s only one habit that really needs addressing. And for me, that is sleep.
I have clinically-diagnosed apnea, which makes sleep near-impossible for me without help. Yet somehow, I was always too busy to take care of it. (Too busy to get better sleep: can I get a witness??) But after I saw a doctor and took measures to improve my sleep hygiene, all the other other habits I wanted to change fell in line. When I get good sleep, it takes me six hours to do what would have otherwise cost me 10 hours. When I have more time, I can work out, wrestle with my kids, etc.
In other words, when I get sleep, I’m equipped to live my best life.
Meet me at my place
Sleep is my keystone, but for many people, it’s incorporating more nutritious food into their diet. As a farmer, I’m in the nutrition business and have a vested interest in helping consumers achieve that goal. So I wonder: why do so many well-intentioned people routinely fail to include vegetables on their plate?
In The Power of Habit, the author tells the story of Febreze, the cleaning product made by Procter & Gamble. When first developed, Febreze was a scentless spray that absorbed and neutralized odors. To Procter & Gamble, the product performed its job well—the goal being to eradicate odor—which baffled the company when it failed to sell in the marketplace. Turns out P&G misread peoples’ habit loops: folks like their cleaning products to smell like...well, cleaning products. When P&G marketed Febreze as scent-free, it didn’t trigger customers’ habitual craving for “clean.” Only once the company added a fresh scent and marketed it as such did bottles begin to move off the shelf. Today Febreze is a billion-dollar product.
Procter & Gamble met customers where they are, not just where they believed they are or where they believed they should be. Instead of resisting the reality of folks’ habits, they adjusted their product to meet consumer craving. And it paid off big time.
So how can I, a vegetable farmer, make consumers crave vegetables? I have to meet them where they are.
Stand and deliver
Ask any American why they can’t get more greens in their diet and they’ll tell you they don’t have time. Or they don’t know how to break down a head of broccoli. Or they don’t know how to wash all the dirt off their spinach leaves. Or maybe they’re just not interested in learning at all. Does that mean they don’t deserve to eat well?
As farmers, our job is to offer safe and nutritious products, but we’re also responsible for feeding consumers on their terms. At Spinaca, we’ve taken this very seriously, and it’s been a massive win-win. We sell washed, dried and bagged greens for whipping up a quick salad at home. Sure, maybe that salad accompanies a Big Mac from the McDonald’s drive-thru. No shame in that game: I’ve been there too.
As part of our Root-to-Shoot program, we take unused-yet-nutritious broccoli stems and turn them into a powder for people to put in smoothies on the go because we know people lack the time to prep raw veg. This is us doing our part as a producer—finding other ways for time-strapped consumers to increase their veg intake without having to commit to a 100% squeaky-clean food plan.
It’s a beautiful thing to deliver the products consumers want to meet their nutrition goals in a crave-worthy way because we know that’s the ticket to setting healthy habits for life—and we’re thankful to be part of that.