I wasted too many years believing that success required unwavering discipline. I would go to the gym 10 days straight, terrified that a break would mean a loss of momentum. (Of course, I burned out and hated exercising for months.) This thinking can also apply to how we assume others achieve their goals. They should always eat healthily. I bet they want an hour-long spinning class. They’ve probably never slept less than 8 hours in their life. No, they just know the power of habit accumulation.
The truth is, I never considered myself disciplined. Despite (now) consistency exercise routine, building a healthy, balanced lifestyle wasn’t the result of gritting my teeth and living at odds with my authentic self. (Of course, I’ve attended many workout classes at 6 a.m. when all I wanted to do was sleep.) I constantly draw from a range of behavioral techniques it allows me to embody the best of myself a little easier. And habit stacking is at the very top of that list.
Featured image from our interview with Remi Ishizuka.
What is habit stacking?
Like clockwork, another champagne-fueled New Year gives way to resolutions to cook meals at home and well-intentioned (if vaguely worded) goals to follow. healthier routines. But spoiler: without a solid framework of habits behind this desire to live a more fulfilled and purposeful life, the odds of success are not in your favor.
Strategizing around these lifestyle changes – and relying on research-backed techniques – is essential to making your vision board a reality. Additionally, when we make healthy, supportive habits more desirable, they become easier to implement. And that’s why habit stacking is so powerful.
How Habit Stacking Works
Habit stacking is based on synaptic pruning (the brain’s process of eliminating unused neural connections and prioritizing those used most frequently) to help you easily develop new skills and rituals. As James Clear writes in Atomic Habits, “It is a biological change that leads to the development of skills.” Think about when you were in school and had to read for 30 minutes a night, or how your parents said you wouldn’t get better at the flute without constant practice. The more you engage in a skill, the stronger the connections between these neurons become.
Although Clear did not coin the phrase, proponents abound, but SJ Scott introduced the term in his book. Habit Stacking: 97 Small Life Changes That Take Five Minutes or Less—I find his explanation of habit stacking the most accessible. To rely on Atomic Habits Let’s look further at Clear’s explanation of how habit stacking works.
“When it comes to creating new habits, you can use the connectivity of behaviors to your advantage. One of the best ways to create a new habit is to identify a current habit that you already practice every day and then add your new behavior to it. This is called habit stacking.
Habit stacking is a special form of implementation intention. Rather than associating your new habit with a particular time and place, you associate it with a current habit.
Examples of Habit Stacking
You may not realize it, but you move between countless ingrained habits throughout your day. Brushing your teeth, taking a shower, driving to work, making coffee, cooking dinner, etc. And I’m sure you can think of many more things. The great thing about habit stacking is that there are countless places to start.
Let’s use Clear’s habit stacking formula to identify some examples.
After/Before (CURRENT HOME), I will do it (NEW HABIT).
- Before getting out of bed, I take a sip of water from the bottle on my nightstand.
- In the morning, after serving my coffee, I take five deep breaths.
- Before having breakfast, I will do a brief meditation.
- After I take the shower, I will think of three things I am grateful for.
- Once in bed at night, I journal for five minutes.
These examples show how habit stacking works on a biological level. It leverages the habits you already do regularly – and therefore have built around a strong neural network – to strengthen the connections that allow new habits and skills to flourish.
To start implementing this in your own life, identify 3-5 habits you already practice daily and pair them with 3-5 habits you would like to adopt. Be aware of what fits into your schedule and what habits make sense to combine.
How to Use Habit Stacking to Achieve Your Goals
Even though it seems like you have everything you need to start building habits, there are a few things to keep in mind to successfully incorporate them into your life.
- Be specific. Just as the best goals are clearly aimed at, our habit stacking cues should be explicit. Let go of the ambiguity and identify the exact time and place that precedes your new habit.
- Prioritize actions. When you identify the habits you want to start practicing regularly (as well as the habits you already practice), be sure to “provide instructions on how and when to act (…) The more closely your new habit is linked to a specific cue , It is best that you notice it when the time comes to act,” writes Clear.
- Create contingency plans. Ideally, you should be able to follow your cues and habits regardless of weather or other obligations. But life happens. As you create your own habit stacking framework, think about alternatives if you can’t take a walk outside or if your kids’ schedule takes precedence over your breathing routine.
- Start small. And be realistic. At the start of each year, we inevitably get caught up in the vast world-conquering goals that everyone seems to set for themselves on social media. But the beauty of habit stacking is that it gets the most out of our small, daily actions. So if you’re tempted to meditate for 30 minutes after making coffee, cut it back to five and work your way up from there. Remember: travel is a worthwhile adventure in itself.
