Keystone Habit
What is a keystone habit?
A keystone habit is a habit that, once adopted, drives the adoption of other habits—starting a process that, over time, transforms everything. The concept comes from Charles Duhigg's book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business.
Keystone habits don't directly cause other habits, but doing them builds motivation and makes subsequent habits easier. For example, when people exercise regularly, they naturally tend to eat better and have more energy. For many, making the bed each morning sets the tone of rigor and discipline from the start of the day.
Why is continuous interviewing a keystone habit?
For product teams, continuous interviewing is a keystone habit for continuous discovery. When a product team develops a weekly habit of customer interviews, they don't just get the benefit of interviewing more often. They also start rapid prototyping and experimenting more often, and they do a better job of connecting what they learn from research activities with the product decisions they make.
The habit itself matters more than the volume. It's better to talk to one customer every week than to talk to four customers one week and no customers the next week. Turning this behavior into a habit makes it sustainable—it's easier to maintain a habit than to start and stop an activity.
How do you build a keystone habit?
For continuous interviewing, aim for consistency rather than volume. Start where you are: try to talk to a customer every month, then every few weeks, then every other week, until eventually you get to every week. Building up iteratively makes the habit more sustainable and easier to maintain over time.
Learn more:
- This Keystone Habit Will Fuel the Rest of Your Continuous Discovery Habits
- Customer Interviews: How to Recruit, What to Ask, and How to Synthesize What You Learn
Related terms:
- Continuous Interviewing
- Continuous Discovery
- Customer Interview
Last Updated: October 25, 2025