Never Miss Twice: A Secret to Habit Building

Recently updated on: September 20, 2023

Habit building is important in ensuring that we can make our lives easier by creating automatic responses, but good habits are difficult to establish and maintain.

According to studies, it takes an average of 66 days for habits to become automatic, which is over two months!

However, building a new habit is difficult and may not be as long-lasting as we like. Just think of when we tried a new positive routine like eating healthy, going to the gym, or practicing a new skill - only to fail after a few weeks.

So, one useful trick I learned in habit building that you can also employ is never to miss twice in a row.

Related: 12 Powerful Principles to Improve in Almost Anything

Never Miss Twice

Have you ever tried consistently building a new habit for a few months when suddenly life got in your way, and you lost track along with the routine you've been building?

We all experience that, especially every new year, and people start making their new year's resolutions. 

By not missing out on your habit twice in a row, you are putting yourself in a better position to succeed and make your habit automatic. I learned this lesson from James Clear, which is crucial when starting a new habit.

Remember that perfection is impossible, and it is highly probable that you will eventually miss it.

However, you can still get back up as long as you are not missing your routine consecutively. So, always put consistency over perfection.

This principle applies to many areas of life, like fitness, healthy eating, creativity, learning, relationships, and many more.

Why Is Not Missing Twice in a Row Important?

I've been using Duolingo for learning German, and I realized that they also apply a similar principle of not missing multiple days in a row. 

For instance, I started on January 5, 2022, and at the end of the year, I am just on a 310-day streak. So, where did 55 days go? On missed days, of course!

However, though I missed several times during the year, I tried to avoid missing consecutive times to keep the streak running -- and it worked.

Remember that we can miss once in a while, but it is crucial to understand that we are not aiming for perfection in habit-building.

Instead, we are looking for consistency, determination, and discipline to show up day after day.

Never Miss Consecutive Sessions

Not missing twice is not only applicable to consecutive days. It can also be used for habits with intervals. For example, I am rebuilding my running habit by running thrice a week on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

Though it is important to do it consistently, thrice a week, sometimes it rains, or I have other things to do. So, whenever I miss my Monday run, I will make sure to do my Thursday run and so on.

You can also apply this principle to your weekly, bi-weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly routines to consistently build your habit.

How To Get Back on Track?

While it is easy to fall off track as days go by because of travels, unfortunate events, sickness, and more, it is still important to know how to get back on track. Here are some tips.

1. Push yourself to return.

After a missed day, it is easy to rationalize that we can still put it off and do it tomorrow.

However, *that* tomorrow may bring another challenge and cause us to miss twice. Remember that two missed days in a row will be detrimental to our habit-building.

2. Start small.

It is important to start small and achievable when starting a new habit. Don't suddenly jump into a new routine that is too steep compared to your current lifestyle because you are bound for failure.

Make the change small but consistent, so if you miss one, you can still do it easily the following day.

3. Make your environment favorable for your habit.

A great way to establish a habit is to ensure that your environment is optimized for the thing you want to do.

It can be as simple as placing a book on your lampstand so you immediately read after waking up or putting your shoes outside your room so you can immediately change and go for a run.

If you miss one day, try to recreate an environment that suits your habit, so you can continue building on it.

4. Reward yourself.

According to The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, a habit loop is composed of a cue (trigger) -> routine (action) -> reward.

So, if you want to get back on track after missing a day, try it again, do the action you want to build and reward yourself.

Final Thought

Building a new habit is simple, but it is never easy because you can get lost in the busyness of your everyday life. However, you can do the simple trick of ensuring you never miss two in a row.

Never missing twice in your habit-building can help you stick to your plan of making a habit automatic. That is also what I did for this blog. For more than three years, I never missed a single Saturday without a published post.

Remember that habit-building is all about consistency and not perfection. You can miss once in a while. Just make sure never to miss twice.

Key Takeaways:

• It takes an average of 66 days before a habit becomes automatic.
• When building your habit, it’s okay to miss once in a while, but not twice in a row.
• If you break your habit, you can still get back up by pushing yourself, starting small, making your environment favorable, and rewarding yourself.
• Consistency > perfection.