I’ve said for years that I don’t pursue discipline because I’m holy. I pursue discipline because I’m not. In layman’s terms: discipline always has been and always will be unnatural to me.
Let me get up at 11am instead of 5:30am. French fries over broccoli 100 times out of 100. If I had to choose between saving for retirement or exotic travel with my family, I’d always pick traveling with my family. Never met a book I wanted to finish or an inconvenience I wanted to deal with.
Enter: habits.
Everyone talks about habits. Mine aren’t atomic, though, they’re anchoring.
I haven’t looked this up, but I assume I’m the billionth or so person to coin the phrase “anchor habits.” I’d view anchor habits as the foundational, non-negotiable practices that stabilize our lives regardless of season, circumstance, or resistance.
Anchor habits keep you steady—they’re underneath the surface and help you weather whatever may come your way.
I’ve modified my habits over the past six years, and will continue to, but as 2025 winds down, here are the habits that have anchored me throughout the year, the ones that I’ve added, and the ways I’m still needing to grow.
Year-Round Habits
These are the habits that have stayed with me five to seven days a week, every week, all year, with limited exceptions. They often take little bits of time throughout the day.
Renewal Habits
More than just a morning reading and prayer, I’ve established a few touch points to nurture my spiritual life. I use our church’s reading plan to keep up with daily reading (Monday through Saturday). I’m with my church family on Sunday. I usually read along while listening on the Dwell App (it is usually 10-15 minutes).
For prayer, I have four times I pray, of varying lengths of time. None are long. (1) in the morning after I read, (2) briefly, at lunch (along with reading a Psalm and Proverb), (3) in the afternoon (usually sometime between 2 and 4pm), and (4) before bed (I bought a kneeler for this one).
Fitness Habits
I am not a fitness geek. My change this year is I walk way more.
I started in Q1 with 7,000 steps a day, and then went up 1,000 steps a day each quarter. I’m currently at 10,000 steps a day. At the time of this writing, I do not think I’ve missed a single day. A time or two I forgot my watch, so my steps didn’t “count,” but I’m confident I’ve walked more this year than most years of my life.
I also shoot for 150 minutes of weekly activity of any kind. Doesn’t matter the kind. Gym session. Walk. Run. Bike ride. Hike. Mowing in the sun. I go by the watch and it has to be set as an activity.
Schedule Habits
During the school year? Alarm goes off at 5:30AM. Sometimes I enjoy going back to sleep but we’re up and moving at that time just about every school day. This habit does not carry into the weekends or summers or holidays. I’m not crazy. I like my breaks, but that consistent rhythm has helped. And the breaks are good, too.
I also do a daily review (each night) and weekly review (on Sundays). To manage those reviews and tasks I use Todoist and a calendar. Todoist has become so ingrained into my daily life that it might be the most significant addition to how I stay on task in a given day. We pay for the entire staff to use it, basically because it helps me and I figured maybe it could help us.
Mid-Year Additions
As a consummate tinkerer, I still found areas lacking. That bugged me. I had my baseline and felt as if I had neglected a couple of areas, so I found some small tweaks in the schedule to push a little more.
Writing Habits
I’ve thought and prayed about writing more for a year now. I just hadn’t made the time. Both the memoir and this Substack started within the last four months of the year. I spend a minimum of 20 minutes a day on the book and I work on articles in one block of time—Sunday afternoons or evenings most often. Writing has started to develop a muscle I did not know I had—it’s been a lot of fun.
Relational Habits, Part 1
I don’t engage Courtney enough—mainly in prayer. We aren’t big date-night folks. We just get together when we can. Prayer, though, was definitely lacking. I had done much better in another season of marriage praying with her (like 2011), and needed that back. So I started praying with her at least once every day. Never long—because the goal isn’t the length, the goal is the act itself .
I also invite her on a lot of the walks I go on. She never has to join, but when she does, we get another 30-45 minutes of time together. That’s also better than the gym, which she hates.
Pressure Points
I’m still finding cracks in the process that I haven’t fully adjusted yet but hope I am able to. Some areas of weaknesses that show I have plenty more mountain to climb are:
Calendar-Keeping
I keep four calendars because that’s life right now. I struggle to know exactly how much time to allocate to certain tasks. Thus, I know that 2026 will likely contain more schedule maintenance to be sure I prioritize the right aspects of my life. I’m nervous about this, honestly, because the discipline demand for it seems daunting. However, if it helps others, I’m game.
Relational Habits, Part 2
Our boys are getting older. We have two-and-a-half more years until the boys likely start moving out of the house and our lives are forever changed. I know that I need to adjust the schedule (see “calendar-keeping” above) to make more time for them and for us. I’ve taught them spades; now it is time to beat them at spades.
How About You?
Your turn, readers. What habits have helped to form you this year? Where do you know you’re weak and need adjustment? If you could embed one new anchor habit into your life right now, what would it be?
Maybe you feel stuck in a perpetual cycle of unrealized potential or frustrated feelings of failure. If that’s you, reach out. I’d be glad to see if there’s a way I can help you or those on your team.
Author’s Commentary:
Thanks for putting this one together. It will be very helpful as I turn my thoughts toward 2026.