I washed my face and brushed my teeth after having one drink too many at Boxi Park. The next morning, I realized I had finally created a successful habit loop.

Willpower is the single most important habit for individual success. In a 2005 study analyzing 164 eighth grade students, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that students who exerted high levels of willpower were more likely to earn higher grades, have fewer absences, watched less TV, and spent more hours on homework. The study also predicted which students would improve their grades over the course of the year. They noted, “Self-discipline has a bigger effect on academic performance than does intellectual talent.”

Willpower acts similar to a muscle. It can be trained, and you can grow your willpower strength. As you grow willpower in one area of life, your willpower in other areas grow. You become better at regulating your impulses and learn how to distract yourself from other temptations. If you begin to practice willpower, it becomes easier to call upon it when needed.

As a muscle can fatigue from overuse, so can willpower. The saying by Mark Twain, “Eat the frog in the morning,” refers to the idea that the rest of the day will be better because you already did the worst thing you could do. Brian Tracy applies the term to completing your worst task in the morning. As the day progresses and life tests our willpower, we are less likely to do that dreaded task of “eating the frog.” Your willpower in the morning is fresh, so use that knowledge to start the day right.

Washing my face at night required a lot of willpower and self-discipline for me. I would always get tired and figure, It’s just a little makeup. What’s the harm? Plus, I was younger; I didn’t care if I woke up to smudged mascara under my puffy eyes. All I wanted was to go to bed!

Morning routines are excellent ways to capitalize on your fresh willpower. Although each day will be different, setting up routines aids us when our willpower begins to get tested. Routines are the willpower “hack” so you can follow a set of rules for yourself in those pain-point moments. If you have a routine for making dinner, say, you subscribe to a meal delivery service or you get all your dinner meals prepped on Sunday for the week, you will be more likely to follow through on eating your planned dinner.

Routines can be created for all aspects of life. A morning routine, an evening wind-down routine, a routine for arriving to work, or a routine for leaving work. All these simple routines are excellent ways to create end caps to sections of your day. In addition, you can create routines or flowcharts for common tasks. You can imagine any pain point or daily action and create a routine to follow. It is nearly that simple. It just requires practice.  

A few years ago, yes, years ago, I decided I needed to wash my face every night – regardless of makeup use or not. I already brushed my teeth, so I decided I’d habit stack by adding facewashing to my evening routine. I didn’t do it every night, but every night that I did, it felt like work, as though it was taking me an extra 30 minutes when in reality it was maybe an extra three minutes.

Eventually, the routine slowly becomes automated. This is when the magic happens. Once you can automate the behavior, you no longer have to think about how to have a morning or evening routine; you simply do it. This is when a routine becomes a habit. It may take a few months or years to fully know that you’ve adopted a new habit. You may not even notice when your behavior becomes a habit, but one day, you’ll wake up and realize you did something without having to fully think about it. You’ll look back at the version of yourself from five years ago, and say, “Wow, I do that naturally now.”

For me, I realized about four years after I made the decision to wash my face every evening that I had engrained a full-blown habit. 

The magic moment comes seconds afterwards when you realize that if you have the power to create one habit, you can create any habit you want! Start with some willpower, create your routine, and let your habit blossom.