Habit Stacking

I read Atomic Habits by James Clear recently and it was phenomenal, such a great book about making good habits and getting rid of bad habits. Now, there was loads of great advice in it and I highly recommend giving it a read, but there was one part in particular that I really loved and that was habit stacking.

Habit stacking is where you take a habit that already exists and put another habit on top of it, so you might have the habit where you finish dinner and do the dishes, habit stacking might then add on make lunch for tomorrow after, or, layout bowls and plates for breakfast.

It’s so simple because adding on a habit to an existing routine is much easier than creating a whole new routine. I especially found this, though I didn’t know why, with my morning routine where writing this post is the anchor so I was able to add on headspace after that and then once that became a habit I was able to add on 15 minutes of stretching.  So I now have an hour-long morning routine that sets me up for the day, whereas before I tended to write this post, browse the internet for 30-45 minutes and then start other work.

Another example he gave was of a guy who uses habit stacking to keep his house clean, so while he waits for his shower to heat up he’ll wipe down the toilet, or after he’s turned off the tv he’ll put the remotes in front of it on the unit instead of the arm of the couch to keep the place tidy.

It’s worth thinking about the habits you use every day and the ways you can improve them, and it’s also worth reading this book!