New Habits Made Simple With Habit Stacking

This is your ultimate guide on how to create new habits with a system called “habit stacking”. It’s really quite simple, and I’ll even show you 5 easy steps to start building your new healthy habits instantly.

Habits are created throughout our lives by repeating a certain behavior or thought enough times that it become automatic.

Many things we do each day are habits we have already developed.

Examples of such habits are putting on our seatbelts after we sit down in a car or washing our hands after we flush the toilet. Other examples are getting out of bed when the alarm goes off, or kissing our partner when he/she comes home from work.

We may have “bad” habits, such as grabbing a handful of Oreos after we put our keys on the counter after a long day at work.  We may have “good” habits such as going to the gym after leaving work. (Just a note, I place the words “bad” and “good” in quotes, because although many people would agree upon their definitions, they are still subjective terms.)

The pattern in all of these examples, is that each of these habits is preceded by a habit. The term for this is “habit stacking.”

Definition of Habit Stacking

Habit stacking is simply following one habit with another, or “stacking” one habit on top of another. It allows you to take a pre-existing habit and use it as a cue, or prompt, for another habit you wish to start forming.

I first learned about habit stacking when reading, “Atomic Habits” by author and speaker, James Clear. (This book is one of my favorites about habits thus far.)

B.J. Fogg, PhD, Founder of Stanford’s Behavior Design Lab, also discusses habit stacking in depth in his book, “Tiny Habits.” (Although the main focus of the book is exactly as is titled, tiny habits.)

The Science of Habit Stacking

A substantial amount of behavioral research has shown that habits are developed when your brain associates a cue with a behavior, increasing in strength with repetition. This leads to automaticity (Verplanken, 2006; Wood & Neal, 2007). Automaticity is defined as when the behavior shows at least some degree of efficiency, lack of awareness, lack of intention and uncontrollability (Bargh, 1994).

The first time you choose a habit to use as your cue and follow it with a new behavior, you are telling your brain that that is a new association. Like anything, it takes practice to strengthen that association. If you can “practice” this cue-behavior association every day, then you should see results sooner.

Just like if you decrease your caloric intake by 200 calories a day, every day, you will see results sooner than if you decrease your caloric intake by 200 calories once a week.

5 Steps to Habit Stack Effectively

Habit Stacking really is quite simple, however I will break it down into 5 easy steps, so that you can become a pro.

#1 Choose an action you wish to turn into a habit.

This can be very general or vague, such as, read more or take my dog for a long walk.  

#2 Determine the frequency you wish to do this habit.

I would like to read every day.

I would like to take Jonny for a long walk every weekend.

#3 Choose how much you will do.

This will vary depending on the new habit you wish to develop.

Examples include:

• You can choose a short duration of time to perform this new habit (to start out with). Make it an amount of time that you are 100% sure you can commit to.

I will read for 2 minutes every day.

I will take Jonny for a 10 minute walk every weekend.

This may seem like a silly amount of time, but you can work up to your ideal amount of time. If you start out with your ideal amount, such as reading for 30 minutes a day or taking your dog for an hour long walk every weekend, it is more difficult to sustain when just starting to develop the habit. Same goes for the below examples.

• You can choose a specific quantity of that action that you will perform.

My apologies, that may sound a little vague, but here are a few examples.

I will read 2 pages of my book every day.

I will do 2 push-ups every morning.

• You might also choose a specific distance depending on your new habit.

I will walk 1 mile on the treadmill every weekday.

#4 Choose a pre-existing habit (with the same frequency) that you wish to use as your cue to perform your new action.

I will read for two minutes every day after I sit down in the morning with my mug of coffee.

I will take Jonny for a 10 minute walk every Sunday after I put the groceries away.  

#5 Write down your habit stack commitment and place it in the spot where you perform the pre-existing habit (cue).

For example, the reading commitment can be placed where you sit down with your morning coffee. The dog walking commitment can be placed on the inside of the pantry door so you can see it when you put your groceries away on Sunday.

Get creative!

How to Use Habit Stacking to Create New Thoughts

We can all have negative thoughts time to time (or sometimes frequently!) that are not useful, and potentially even harmful. Well, just as you can use habit stacking to create new behaviors, you can also create new thoughts.

For example, try to identify a thought you have frequently that is not useful to you, such as “I hate my thighs” or “I always mess that up.” Think about when you normally think this recurring thought, such as looking in the mirror in the morning before work, a specific task at home or work, etc.

Then go through the habit stacking steps above and instead of choosing an action that you wish to develop into a new habit, choose a thought that you would rather have instead.

It should be something you believe, such as “I may not love every part of my body right now, but I really love my pretty blue eyes and strong legs.” Or it may be “I find this task challenging, but I’m getting closer each time I do it.”

Follow the remaining steps according to the 5-step process above and before you know it, your new thought will push out the old, negative ones.

Final Thoughts on Habit Stacking

As you can see from above, habit stacking is an incredible way to create new habits with the help of pre-existing ones. The benefits of creating new habits this way, are multiple.

Habit stacking requires minimal time, effort, and is extremely effective. It’s organized, logical, and you can even make multiple changes at a time. (Although I do recommend just starting with one new behavior or thought first until you have that mastered, then feel free to add in another.)

Have fun creating your new habits!

References:

Bargh, J. A. (1994). The four horsemen of automaticity: Awareness, intention, efficiency, and control in social cognition. In R. S. Wyer, Jr. & T. K. Srull (Eds.), Handbook of social cognition: Basic processes; Applications (p. 1–40). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Verplanken, B. (2006), “Beyond Frequency: Habit as Mental Construct,” British Journal of Social Psychology, forthcoming.

Wood, W., & Neal, D. T. (2007). A new look at habits and the habit-goal       interface. Psychological Review, 114(4), 843–863