Habit stacking

If you want to start a new habit and make it stick, stack it on to a regular existing routine so it becomes something you do automatically.

New York Times #1 best-selling author James Clear redefined how to build better habits with his 2023 book Atomic Habits. James, with insight from a 2007 Oxford University study, highlights that the brain builds a strong network of neurons to support current behaviour and the more you do something, the stronger and more efficient the connection becomes.

“There is a phenomenon that happens as we age called synaptic pruning. Synapses are connections between the neurons in your brain. The basic idea is that your brain prunes away connections between neurons that don’t get used and builds up connections that get used more frequently,” he says.

You can use this to your advantage to build new habits. Identify a current habit you already do each day and then stack your new behaviour on top. Habit stacking is a special form of an implementation intention. Rather than pairing your new habit with a particular time and location, you pair it with a current habit.

Designed to help you incorporate more healthy behaviours without disrupting your normal routine, habit stacking can be quite life changing, says James. For example, if you make your coffee every morning, as the blend brews, take this time to add some movement into your day, perhaps doing 30 squats?

Here are some other habits you can stack:

• When you brush your teeth in the morning, stack the habit of applying moisturiser with SPF to protect your skin for the day.
• When you arrive at work, have a glass of water to start off the day hydrated.
• When packing the fridge with new groceries, remove expired items at the same time.
• When getting changed out of your work clothes at the end of the day, get into your workout clothes to make the journey to the gym a little more seamless.
• When you take the bins out the evening before bin day, walk around the block before you go back inside.

Once you have mastered this basic structure, you can begin to create larger stacks by chaining small habits together. This allows you to take advantage of the natural momentum that comes from one behaviour leading into the next.

Our lives are made up of the tiny things we do every day. Carve out time to examine your routines, as stacking healthy habits can have exponential effects on your future health
and wellbeing.