The Habit Lab: How to Build Consistency in Business & Life with Kim Zuroff

The ONE Thing

NOVA Media

Business, Careers, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2026

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

High achievers aren’t held back because they don’t know what to do. The challenge is always consistency. Habits are so powerful because they are automatic - and in this episode, you’ll learn how to harness the power of habit to help you hit your most elusive goals. Today, Jay sits down with Kim Zuroff, Director of Growth and Executive Coach at The ONE Thing, to talk about the art and science of habits. Kim walks through the habit loop of cue, craving, response, and reward, and explains why habits are often a design problem, not a discipline problem. Jay and Kim discuss how distractions like phone notifications and inbox checking can derail your ONE Thing, why tracking your time creates awareness, and how to start small enough that you can keep going even on your worst days. They also explore habit stacking, evening routines, and why the 66-day journey matters when building lasting change. Challenge of the Week: Pick one habit you want to build. Identify the cue, the craving, the response, and the reward. For the best chance of success, attach it to something you already do automatically, such as “After I brew my coffee, I will…” *** To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: https://the1thing.com/pods. We talk about: [00:00] Why High Achievers Struggle With Consistency [02:59] The Habit Loop Reveals What Drives Behavior [07:45] How Habits Show Up in Coaching [11:03] Why the First Domino Has to Be Small [15:22] How Email Becomes Someone Else’s Agenda [20:37] Better Mornings Begin With Better Evenings [39:12] The ONE Thing Challenge Links & Tools from This Episode: The ONE Thing Operating System: https://the1thing.com/os Kim Zuroff’s previous episode on The ONE Thing Podcast, “Is Your Serial Achievement an Addiction?”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-your-serial-achievement-an-addiction-heres-how-to/id1191482456?i=1000678146322 Free Resources: https://the1thing.com/free-resources-v2 Want to be a guest or share feedback? Email podcast@the1thing.com or send us an audio note at https://www.speakpipe.com/the1thing. Produced by NOVA: https://novapodcasting.com/

Transcript

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0:00.0	So the number one challenge we often see with high achievers is not that they don't know what to do.
0:05.1	They don't have the skills or the knowledge they need. They know exactly what they need to do,
0:09.3	but they can't find consistency. They can do it for a week, maybe two weeks, but then it falls
0:14.9	apart. And then they start beating themselves up and it becomes this whole cycle of, well, maybe I
0:19.7	just can't do it. And it gets into
0:21.8	this bad headspace. So this week, we're going to tackle how to break that cycle to find
0:27.8	your consistency by doing something that takes a little science. We're going to go into the art
0:32.8	and science of building habits and breaking bad ones. And my guest this week will be our very own Kim Zeroff, our director of growth and executive
0:40.6	coach in the one thing organization.
0:42.4	She's a specialist in building habits.
0:44.2	It's a part of her practice.
0:45.5	And it's a great fun conversation.
0:47.6	Enjoy.
1:04.0	I'm Jay Pappazan, and this is the One Thing, your weekly guide to the simple steps that lead to extraordinary results.
1:10.5	Welcome back to the show, Kim. Thank you so much. It's an honor.
1:12.4	One of the things we've learned together is that most people, a lot of high
1:15.7	achievers, aren't going to fail because they've got a capacity issue.
1:19.5	It's usually a consistency issue. And the key to kind of taming consistency. Like, I know
1:26.1	what I need to do, but I just can't make myself do it often enough
1:29.4	is habits. And that's like one of your areas of specialty. Absolutely. And that's what we find,
1:35.4	right? Is it's not a problem of being smart enough or, you know, discipline enough. It's consistent
1:41.1	enough. And that's where habits come into play. I love that chapter in the book.
	...

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