How "Habit Stacking" changed my life (and how it can help you build better habits for success)!

We are our habits.

FACT.

We?are what?we?repeatedly do.

Habits are very strange and powerful things. They drive our everyday routines and teach us, often subconsciously how to feel and react to the things that happen around us all day long.

They can propel us forward in very positive ways and cause us to wobble in negative ways.

Habits allow us to do many of the little things we do, often without thought. We do them on autopilot. They are extremely difficult to change and can be a major factor in the success of failure in life and business.

Trying to change existing habits or introduce new ones—and make them stick—is notoriously difficult.

Of course, it feels like others can adopt new behaviours easily or with impressive discipline, but for the rest of us mere mortals, find an effective techinque?for building, breaking, and keeping habits can feel like a hopeless endeavour.

Trust me I know this all too well.

But it's not our fault.

We're wired for what we're used to, already good at, or familiar with. But this doesn't mean we're doomed to fail—not by any stretch.

Well, your search is now over.

I have the pleasure of introducing you to "Habit Stacking"

I can honestly say that this new technique that I have recently adopted has changed my life as I am achieving better results in several areas of my life: business, work, health, marriage and finances.

?So what is Habit stacking.

It involves "stacking" the new behaviour you're trying to adopt onto a current behaviour in order to help you remember to do it and/or perform it with less mental effort.

For example, if you are anything like me, your goal might be to drink more water throughout the day, so you decide you're going to start drinking a glass of water every morning. Say 2L/3L water a day.

Don't just assume you'll start doing it—as it probably won't last long.

Instead, pair that new habit with a small (tiny, even!) everyday habit or routine you already do, one that's concrete, specific, and consistent. Decide: "After brushing my teeth in the morning, I'm going to drink a glass of water." You stack them together and create a small, but growing chain. Every morning, those two actions should be associated with each other: brush teeth, drink water. The more regularly you do it, the more automatic it will become.

The foundation of habit stacking is something called “intention implementation.”

Basically, you can build a new habit — like drinking more water, reading more books — by recognizing the triggers in your daily routine. Once you recognize these cues, you can use those moments to build new habits.

When [EVENT] happens at [TIME], I will do [ACTION] in [LOCATION].

After I brush my teeth, every morning I will drink 1 glass of warm water in my living room.

Habit stacking allows us to disrupt our autopilot day by adding new triggers to existing actions instead of trying to force new connections.

How to build better habits

Another example which I have applied is to myself is, if you want to get in the habit of daily meditation,?wanting?to meditate every day isn’t enough to make it happen. It might work for a few days, but it won’t become a habit.

The easier way is to identify something you already do (the cue) and create an implementation intention using this simple formula. It might look something like this:

Every morning, after I finish my cup of tea, I will sit in my spare bedroom and meditate for 15 minutes using the Calm App.

This implementation features 4 specific elements of habit change:

1.???There’s a?specific time: “Every morning”.

2.???A?cue: Finish my cup of tea

3.???A?location: Spare bedroom.

4.???And a?specific?action with a time limit attached: Meditating for 15 minutes with the Calm App.

This formula is specific to follow because it has a clear trigger and specific steps to follow.

And after following it for a while, your brain will take over whenever you finish your tea in the morning.

Change your life without changing your whole life

So how do we use habit stacking to lead more productive and fulfilling lives? Here are 4 steps to help you get started with habit change.

1. Look at your existing routine

The first step to building better habits is taking stock of the habits you already have.

Create a list of the things you do every day. Things that happen no matter where you are or what you’re doing.

What time is your alarm? When do you brush your teeth? Do you walk to work or drive? Do you check email in the morning or wait until you start work?

We all do thousands of things every day without thinking about them. So think about them.

Before you try to do anything new or different, it’s important to identify which parts of your day already have habit-stacking potential.?

It’s worth mentioning that your new habit should match the frequency of your existing one as closely as possible.

For example, if you want to journal every day, it might be good to attach it to a habit of an early morning shower so that it fits in as part of your powerful and intentional morning routine. But if you do not shower every day or at different times of the day, best to find another habit to attach it to.

2. Start small?

It’s natural to be enthusiastic about building a new habit and go all-in. We’ve all made New Year’s resolutions.

But remember, this is slow growth.

Building a habit is a marathon, not a sprint.?

If we aim too high, it can become all too easy to make excuses when we fail. Sweeping changes are intrusive.

Starting small builds confidence. Small wins build the momentum for bigger changes later.

If you’re having a hard time getting your new habit started, try to break it down into its smallest parts. Don’t “try to eat healthier” by changing your entire diet all at once. Instead, use habit stacking to focus on adding a specific vegetable into your dinner. Or replace that afternoon snack with tea. Be specific and keep it small.

3. Be realistic

It’s great to have big aspirations, but it’s more important to meet yourself where you’re at.

It can be easy for us to get caught up in comparisons of what other people are doing.

Remember that this is for?you. There’s no right or wrong. Make habit stacking painless, and you’re that much closer to real change.

Start small and stack. So maybe after you meditate you do 10 squats as opposed to something more vigorous that you are not used like 1 hour running.

4. Don’t try to everything at once?

It can be tempting to stack ALL the habits we want to change at once. Like the time I tried to stack meditation, breathwork, journaling, and 20 minute exercise onto having my morning tea… let's just say it didn't stick for long.

Odds are there’s more than one improvement we’d like to make to our lives. It’s best to focus on mastering one thing at a time.?

Forming new habits takes a great deal of conscious effort. Intention implementation has found that it only works when we focus on one thing at a time. If we want our new habit to become automatic, we shouldn’t stretch ourselves too thin.?

Don’t worry. If you have a lot of new habits you’d like to build, you can still achieve them all. You just need a little patience.

According to a famous study published in the?European Journal of Social Psychology, it takes 66 days on average to form a new habit.?

What challenges do you find yourself falling into when it comes to adopting new and better habits?

What’s one goal you want to achieve before end of year?

Habit stacking could be the system you’re looking for to make lasting, positive change.

Quote of the Week:?"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.~ Jim Ryun

ABOUT GRACE THE AUTHOR.

Grace Nelson is a Business Startup and Mindset Coach and Managing Consultant. She has over a decade's worth of experiences working with a multitude of businesses include online start-ups and high street SMEs and has been instrumental in helping them gain visibility both on and offline.?

Grace is best known as a facilitator for change and empowers others to reclaim their power and move towards their wildest ambitions in life and business.

She currently helps women in corporate to create and launch their signature online offer in business in 60 days from scratch - simply and profitably.

If you would like support starting and growing an online business, whilst still in a 9-5 without the overwhelm, then book in a Virtual Coffee and Chat with Grace.