The tactic that works best is shrink-the-target with a built-in streak freeze. In week two of January, we automatically downgrade the habit to a 2-minute "minimum viable version" on busy days and allow one freeze per week without breaking the streak. We operationalized it with calendar-triggered reminders that flip the target when the day is overloaded. The metric that proved it worked was streak survival rate, which stayed intact through week three instead of collapsing after January 12 Albert Richer, Founder, WhatAreTheBest.com
I use what I call the "minimum viable action" principle, which I borrowed directly from how we approach fulfillment operations at Fulfill.com. Instead of going all-in on January 1st, I identify the absolute smallest action that still counts as progress, then protect that threshold religiously during week two when motivation crashes. Here's how I operationalized it this year: My goal was daily exercise, but I knew from running a logistics company that ambitious plans fail without contingency protocols. So my minimum viable action became a single push-up. That's it. On my busiest day in mid-January, when we were onboarding three new warehouse partners and I had back-to-back calls from 7am to 8pm, I literally did one push-up between meetings. Took five seconds. The psychological win was massive because I maintained my streak without the all-or-nothing thinking that kills habits. The metric that proved it worked was streak length compared to previous years. In 2023, my exercise habit died on January 11th when I missed a day during a crisis with a client shipment. This year, I'm still going strong because I've never missed my minimum viable action, even on days when that's all I did. What's fascinating is that on 80 percent of days, once I do that single push-up, I end up doing a full workout anyway. The barrier isn't physical capability, it's the mental hurdle of starting. This mirrors exactly what we see with e-commerce brands at Fulfill.com. The ones who succeed during peak season aren't those with perfect plans. They're the ones who identify their non-negotiable minimum, like maintaining 24-hour shipping windows even when order volume triples, then build their entire operation to protect that baseline. Everything else is bonus. I track this in a simple spreadsheet: green for full workout, yellow for minimum viable action only, red for missed day. Seeing an unbroken chain of green and yellow, with zero red, creates momentum that's self-reinforcing. The key insight is that shrinking the target isn't about lowering standards. It's about guaranteeing you stay in the game long enough for the habit to become automatic. In logistics and in life, consistency beats intensity every single time.