The Power of Habit Stacking: How it changed my life, Transform Your Daily Routine and Maximize Efficiency
Do you struggle with creating new habits? do you always plan to start something new and convince yourself that tomorrow you’ll start it or even next week? or month? yet when the time comes it’s on the back of your mind or even pushed to last, on your to do list . If this is you, you’re certainly not alone.
I personally wanted to create the habit of going to the gym at 7am every morning. I wrote it my diary, I bought a membership to my local gym, and even new gym clothes to motivate myself.
I told all of my friends and family it’s what I set out to do. I was so determined in my words and even in my own mind, that I convinced myself I was going to start going.
Yet, still none of my actions never aligned.
I stayed in bed and turned my alarm off every morning, I shamelessly shoved my gym clothes to the back of my wardrobe, so I couldn’t even see them and told my family and friends that I was just so busy with work to even attempt the gym. This was my life until i discovered the power of habit stacking.
I learnt having a plan and the motivation to create a new habit and having the determination and dicsipline to actually carry it out are very separate things. As James clear says in his best selling book Atomic Habits:
"Whenever you want to change your behavior, you can simply ask yourself: How can I make it obvious? How can I make it attractive? How can I make it easy? How can I make it satisfying?”
— James clear, Atomic Habits
What is habit stacking?
Habit stacking is best described as setting yourself up for success.
It is, having a plan and sticking to it, most efficiently, by carrying out a small action that already takes you to the bigger action you want to complete.
For example, like I said in my situation; I could’ve easily laid my clothes out the night before going to the gym so in the morning I can quickly grab them and already be dressed to leave the house and go. This would’ve subconsciously prepared me, instead I created a harsh mental battle for myself, in feeling shame of not being motivated to get up, dress and go myself.
Many describe habit stacking as linking an action to an already consistent working routine. Think (after I do x I will do y). This works as similar to the gym example, for instance if you wanted to make praying a more consistent part of your routine, you might think; “after I brush my teeth in the morning, I will always make time extra time to pray.” Doing this will ensure maximum efficiency and will allow you to create the perfect and most consistent routines. Read on to find out more about how you can transform your daily routines with simple habit stacking rules
How you can Transform Your Daily Routine and Maximize Efficiency…
Identify a new habit
you can double up your productivity levels in anyway you would like. If you want to try to get out of a recent slump, starting right back at the basics is best.
It can be as simple as creating a habit after making a cup of coffee in the morning. Or even if your habit is to cut down on caffeine create a what I like to call a ‘magical habit,’ that is a habit before the one you want to reduce or remove.
I like to make a cup of warm water with lemon juice right before I make any hot beverages, or even before i eat in the morning. Doing this, decrease that desire of the simple action of making a coffee and instead replaces with a healthier option. Continue to do this, until your caffeine intake drops and eventually you can remove it completely.
Consistently stack it onto another habit
Habit stacking works in theory, however in practice it relies on consistency. Say, if you want to create a habit that you will carry out every week, it is useless to pair it with a habit you already practice every month. Choosing which habit to perform your desired one with is the most important decision and you can base this on “how consistent will it make me?”
If this is taking more time than you would have hoped; James clear notes in atomic habits, to not be discouraged if it take longer to create a habit than you would like or desire. Instead understand that habits are developed along a certain period of time and that is shaped by your environment, your time and your dedication.
Reflect on which habits you’d like to incorporate into your daily routines, it can be either morning, afternoon or in your night routines it is completely up to you.
Multiple habit stacking & not giving up
When you are confident in completing your first habit stacking routine you can even continue this to up- level your productivity even more.
Build the most productive routine by habit stacking on top of your added habits. For example; I love now to create a gym routine in the morning, after I brush my teeth i stretch for my dedicated gym session, I make a pre-workout (instead of coffee), get dressed and head out for the gym. The number one change is that, I love it. Consistency and habit stacking altered by dread and fear into love and joy of the simple mundane tasks in my life.
The most important thing is to remember to not give up, it is very easy to say no to a simple task and to think “ oh i’ll just complete it later..” for later to come around and you forgetting that you were even thinking about doing it. I know that feeling and you aren’t alone in feeling that sometimes it can be a struggle to continue. However without this dedication you have to start back at sqaure one again and that to me was more frightening than continuing to look ahead.
So, now you can complete your own habit stacking routines..
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