Habit Stacking
WHAT IS IT AND HOW DO I USE IT ??
Hello again! I am still here talking about habits =) They are so crucial for all things health and wellness but literally also your entire life. Think of it as mastering the air squat before progressing to the back squat. Without a solid foundation, one will never truly get where they want to go.
The habits you work on identifying and setting will become your foundation
Habits tend to trigger other habits yeah? Like eating dinner, then either doing the dishes or loading the dishwasher to realize you need more dish soap so you add it to your grocery list.
The good news is that we can use this to our advantage when working on setting new habits.
How do I do that you ask???
Habit Stacking.
Attaching a new habit to an existing habit you are already doing.
Literal genius if you ask me.
Take this for example…
Every morning I brew some coffee first thing in the morning, I also struggle to consistently get in about 80oz of water or so a day.
Some things I was already doing
carrying a water bottle around all day
saying I was going to drink 3 of them a day
What was really happening, some days it worked and some days it didn’t..
So after writing out my daily habits, I noticed “ well I wake up every morning and brew coffee, then I scroll Instagram in the kitchen while I wait for my coffee. Was scrolling IG in the AM serving me in any way shape or form, absolutely not.
Instead, I’ve been trying this:
while coffee pot brews instead of scrolling social media waiting for my coffee I can have my first glass of water for the day. So the new stacked habit becomes “ While the coffee brews in the AM I will have 1-2 glasses of water.”
Once you master the act of stacking a habit, James Clear talks about going on to create larger stacks of habits. Allowing one positive behavior to trickle down into several more.
One of my favorite analogies in the book Atomic Habits was when James referred to habit stacking as a simple set of rules that guide your future behavior.
We are in the driver's seat so it is up to us to decide which way we will go. This tool and way of thinking will become applicable in all aspects of your life, not just in the gym or the kitchen. You can use this same way of thinking with your work life, personal life, finances. Literally anything. We have the power to do and change so much, but you have to be willing to put in the work.
To sum up the past two weeks we have two ways to implement new habits.
Implementation intention: specific day and time you will set out to do “new habit”
Habit Stacking : attaching a new habit to an existing one you already do.
*Make sure the habit you chose to stack onto lines up with what you are setting out to achieve. If the existing habit does not occur every day and we are trying to add in a new habit that is a daily occurrence, that stacking scenario will not work. Instead, you must attach it to something that you’re already doing on a daily basis.
If you recall a few weeks ago we talked about the Laws of Behavior Change.
Step one: make it obvious
In order to make your new habit obvious trying using either implementation intentions and/or habit stacking.
This is how we will create obvious cues for our habits and create a CLEAR plan for when and where we are to take action
Feel ready to take action but need some help along the way???
Whether it is with a workout routine or your nutrition both of my coaching programs will offer you step-by-step work on setting a daily routine that works for you and gets you those results you keep talking about. Together we will instill lifelong habits that will change the rest of your life and help you in so many other areas of your life. Schedule your consultation today and let’s get you started with the right fit.
If you’re here for the freebies that's all good too, be sure to subscribe to my email list so you don’t miss a thing.
All things health and fitness dissected and discussed weekly.
Want to learn more??
More on this topic next week where we will be discussing the king “ Your Environment”
Stay tuned and be sure to follow me on Instagram and hop on the newsletter list so you don’t miss anything.
References:
Clear , James. Atomic Habits: an Easy &Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. Penguin Random House LLC , 2018.