The power of 2
2 push-ups a day
is 730 a year.
2 × 365 = 730. That is the whole calculation.
730 push-ups will not change your body. They change something harder: what you believe you are. Somewhere around the second month you stop being someone who is trying to work out and become someone who does push-ups. After that, 2 turns into 10 on its own, because that is simply what people who do push-ups do.
The number was never the point. The 365 is the point. Two push-ups is the smallest thing you can do every single day without a good reason to skip it — and a habit you cannot skip is the only kind that reaches day 365.
Why 2 and not 20
Twenty is a workout. It needs a good day: time, energy, the right mood, no excuse in the way. Most days are not good days, so twenty gets skipped, and every skip makes the next one easier. By February it is gone.
Two needs nothing. You can do two push-ups in your work clothes, at 11 pm, with a cold, on the worst day of the month. It feels almost silly, and that is the design: when the habit is smaller than the excuse, the excuse loses. The hard part is only the first few weeks, when it feels too small to matter and nobody would notice if you stopped.
The second 2
That last clause is the real problem. Nobody would notice. A promise you make to yourself is a promise you break in private, and private promises are the easiest kind to break. So add a second 2: two people.
You do your 2. They do theirs. Both of you mark it on the same pact, and each of you sees the other’s day go by. Skipping stops being a private decision. Nobody is chasing anyone, nobody is being policed — there is just a thing you both said you would do, and a screen that shows whether you did. That is the accountability a solo tracker cannot give you, and it is the reason the pair is the shape that sticks.
Couple goals, the small kind. Your 2 push-ups, their 2 pages. Or the same 2, side by side. The pact is shared; the effort is each person’s own.
Twelve pacts that start at 2
Every starter in the Pacts library now begins at 2 — the exact titles below are what you will find in the app. Pick one each, or pick the same one.
- 2 push-ups — 730 a year.
- 2 squats — 730 a year.
- 2 lunges — 730 a year.
- 2-min brisk walk — about 12 hours of walking a year.
- 2-min jog — about 12 hours of running a year.
- Stretch 2 min — about 12 hours a year of not being stiff.
- Yoga 2 min — the same 12 hours, on a mat.
- Read 2 min — roughly 2 pages a night, roughly 730 pages a year: two or three books you would otherwise have “meant to read”.
- Meditate 2 min — 12 hours of quiet a year.
- Journal 2 min — 365 entries.
- Breathing break 2 min — 365 pauses.
- Tidy 2 min — 730 minutes of a tidier home, one surface at a time.
None of those is a health claim. They are multiplication. What the year actually does to you is yours to find out; what it will certainly do is make you someone who kept a promise 365 times.
What happens after 2
In Pacts, a level is just the title. “2 push-ups” sits on a ladder — 2, then 5, 8, 10, 12, 15 and on up to 200 — and when 2 starts to feel easy, you step the pact up a rung. Nothing is locked and nothing is scheduled: you climb when you want to, and if a rung turns out to be too much you step back down, without a lecture. The streak stays yours the whole way.
A missed day is never scolded. One slip a month is forgiven automatically on the free tier, so a bad Tuesday doesn’t wipe a good month, and a fresh start is always one tap away.
What it costs
Nothing, for two people. The pair is free, always — the details are on the couples page.
Questions people ask
Is 2 push-ups a day enough?
Enough to build the habit, which is the part that was missing. Whether it is enough exercise is a question for you and your doctor; what 2 a day reliably does is make you someone who does push-ups every day, and once that is automatic the number rises on its own. Pacts shows the next rung on the ladder when you want it: 5, 8, 10, 12, 15 and on up.
How long does it take for a habit to stick?
Longer than the 21 days you have heard. The best-known study on it found an average of around two months, with a huge range between people and habits. That is exactly why the first rung is 2: a habit you can keep on your worst day survives the two months it takes to become automatic.
Can two people share one habit tracker?
Yes, that is what Pacts is built for. You make one pact, both of you mark it each day, and each of you keeps your own streak. The app also counts the days you both kept it, which is the one number a solo tracker cannot give you. Two people is free, always.
What if my partner and I want different habits?
Pick a different 2 each. A circle can hold more than one pact, and on any pact a member can either take part or just cheer, so your 2 push-ups and their 2 pages sit side by side in the same circle, each seen by the other.
Get Pacts — free See how it works
Other shapes a pact takes
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A habit tracker for couples
Evening walks, gym days, and the phone off at dinner — three shapes for two people who live together.
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An accountability partner
Why most study and gym partnerships die in week two, and what a visible daily mark changes.
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How to write a pact that actually sticks
Five rules for a commitment small enough to keep on your worst day — and specific enough to be checked.
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All the ways people use Pacts →
The full scenario library, from the solo on-ramp to the whole-household board.