Habit Stacking

They say, “it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks.” I’m honestly not sure of the intended meaning of that saying, but I take it to mean that it isn’t easy to create new habits. Not that it can’t be done. It just isn’t easy. 

Habit stacking, however, can greatly improve your chances of success. It works by piggy-backing a desired new habit onto an established habit. Allow me to try to illustrate a few examples.

Say you’re trying to get more steps into your day. You’ve tried to do a daily long walk, but a busy schedule and a particularly cold and raining winter have gotten in the way. What’s to be done? With habit stacking you can creatively add it to something you already do. Maybe you watch the news every morning or evening. Instead of watching from the couch, walk around the room while watching.

Say you’re trying to read a book a week, but by the end of the day you would just rather watch Netlix. Maybe you already have a great walking routine. You can incorporate an audiobook into your walking habit. 

Say you’d like to mediate every morning, but have been failing to do it. Well, if this is true, I recommend starting your mediation habit by aiming for just 3-5 minutes of mediating until you’re able to easily do more. Maybe you already make coffee in the morning. You could stack mediation into this habit by prepping your coffee brewing method of choice and meditating for a couple of minutes while it finishes brewing. 

Say you’re trying to get stronger (or more shapely) legs and glutes. You could stack some body weight squats on to something you already do everyday. For example, you could do squats while you wait for the shower to get hot or your toast to finish toasting. 

Hopefully you get the idea by now. I’d love to hear any ideas you have, or any habit stacking you’re already doing.