When I’m trying to establish a new habit—working out each morning or freewriting for a few minutes each day, for instance—I try to set things up so that’s it easy to get started and keep getting started, over and over, until that new habit is locked in.

That initial lock-in process is tough, which is why removing every possible friction and addressing every possible excuse not to do it, ahead of time, can be helpful.

If I know I’ll justify not going to the gym if I have to drive there, it ...