Popular author and speaker James Clear says, "Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement." That is, the effects of your habits multiply, when repeated, much like your money multiplies, as it sits in an interest-bearing account.
Clear is the author of the new Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, and he has a simple formula for making your habits Atomic, which he shares with Mark Barnes in this episode.