The Power of Prep: How Small Set-Up Rituals Fuel Big Habits

I really enjoy creating new habits, but I often find it challenging at first. Throughout 2024, I built a great habit of working out. I do pilates at home most days and building this habit has taught me a lot. One of the keys to my success is leaping into action with prepping or setting up for the habit—not necessarily focusing on the habit itself. For example, to get into motion doing the pilates, I need to first head upstairs to my closet and put on my workout clothes. Then I need to head downstairs and open our family room closet where my weights are stored and put them out in the family room. Next, I turn on the TV and open my phone to the Align pilates app. I have to select which video I’m doing that day, which is usually pretty easy because there’s a calendar. Then I need to stream it to my TV. I usually pause the video then and bring over my glass of water to the family room table. And to add to this, before any of this even starts, I usually walk my dog, Remy, so she doesn’t bark at me during the workout or ask to go outside.

All of this prep work might sound small, but it’s as important as the workout. It’s tedious. It seems to not matter, but it is the habit.

Setting the habit of working out more isn’t just “becoming a person who exercises.” It’s “becoming a person who walks the dog every morning, who changes into workout clothes, who takes the time to get set up and also put everything away afterward.”

When I say I need momentum to do my workout habit, I often mean that I need the oomph to head upstairs and put on my workout clothes, grab my weights, and put on the video. Honestly, that’s it. Once all of those things are in motion and the video is on, I start moving.

The equivalent for someone who goes to a yoga studio would be booking the class, changing your outfit, packing your yoga mat and towel, driving there, etc. Those little things matter and I believe our resistance to building habits is often all the little things that go into it that make the whole thing seem “hard.”

Building a creative practice such as writing

One of my 2025 goals is to write a new book and I haven’t been in a daily writing practice lately. I’m beginning to think of this habit not necessarily as “how will I write every day?” but rather as “what kind of setup ritual will help me do my best work?”

Here are a few things I’ve come up with so far:

1. I need to ensure the dog is walked first otherwise she barks at me and doesn’t settle in for a nap

2. I need to have a glass of water and a cup of tea on my desk

3. I need to straighten up my desk/office so it’s a clean workspace

4. I need to close down my inbox and Trello or anything else that “barks” at me to do tasks that aren’t writing

5. I need to tell anyone who is home that I’ll be writing and I don’t want to be distracted

6. I need to put my headphones on and put on some kind of instrumental or Deep Focus playlist

7. I need to have pre-decided the day before what I’m working on that day so I know what my job for the day is whether it’s character development, building the plot or chapter outline, or writing a particular scene

8. I need to set a timer for how long I’ll focus before taking a break. If I’m struggling to start, I might set the timer for only 5 minutes and see how it feels after those 5 minutes

After I write, I’ll also need to do more steps that are involved in the habit to cool down and decompress:

1. I need to log my progress for the day somewhere, such as what I worked on and for how long, or perhaps how many words were written. Hopefully, that spreadsheet has a nice chain of work days where I’m touching the project daily, which helps me not want to “break the chain” even if it’s five minutes of work on the project daily.

2. I need to stand up from my desk, stretch my legs, and give Remy or Hunter a quick cuddle (they usually nap in my office as I work).

3. I need to get more water and maybe do something mindless like wash the dishes to decompress before transitioning to a new activity

When I think of the habit as “write every day,” I feel unsure where to start, but if I see the ritual that needs to happen in order for me to write, now I know where to actually start. Therefore, I don’t need the momentum to “sit down and write,” I need the momentum to grab my water, tea, and headphones. To make sure the dog has been walked, etc.

Setting the stage for your success happens in your pre-habit ritual

If you want to build a new habit in 2025, consider the prep work that needs to go into it. Do you want to try out a few new workout programs before you pick one? Give yourself grace setting up something new. It takes time to find the right workout, create the right prepping ritual, etc. But once you get in the groove, your uphill battle won’t be “how do I workout every day?” It’ll become much more simple. It’ll be confronting when you’re avoiding your prep ritual. If the workout is feeling too intimidating maybe just focus on putting on a workout outfit daily. See how that makes you feel and create the ritual of changing your outfit. Start small and build.

Only build one or two habits at a time

Sometimes I want to overhaul many habits at once but it’s just too much. Start small. Change one thing at a time. Once that habit has really taken hold and feels natural, then work on the next piece of the puzzle. The biggest habits I shifted in 2024 were diet restrictions, working out, and becoming a homeowner which entailed a lot of new habits like regularly cleaning, etc. In 2025, I’m focusing more on my work and creative habits again.

What habit do you want to work on next? What does the setup ritual look like?