Look to your left, and look to your right. Raise your hand if you felt like there is too much to do and way too little time. There’s two kinds of people in this world: those with their hands raised and liars. Everyone has that struggle in our overbooked, overstressed lifestyle where the lines between work, rest, recreation, and recuperation are continually and unequivocally blurred. How do we manage to prioritize ourselves, make time for work meetings, stay connected with everyone, stretch, and still find times to find enjoyment with our leisure activities? We've got to take advantage of the time we have ownership of. Have no fear, habit stacking is here! And it's here to stay. Habit Stacking is an underrated, yet undefeated strategy to multi-task in a way that does not take away from the efficiency of each task you do, but further amplifies it. Coined by BJ Fogg, and made popular through authors like Katy Bowman in her book: Movement Matters, Habit Stacking is defined as “involves grouping together small activities into a memorable routine and anchors your new habits to an existing trigger.” This is a fancy way of saying, “find something you already like to do, and couple it together with something that you want to integrate more often.” Lets say you enjoy time with the family, but you also like to stay active? This is where you can schedule hikes with the people close to you. While you’re trying to prioritize more time with your loved ones, you also get the chance to stay active. All of a sudden “not having time to get activity or cardio in” because you are choosing family time becomes a fun experience for everyone involved.
Lets try an example that is more solo in nature. I like to read, yet I also do not like to sit in one space for long periods. Quite the quandary, if not for the magic of habit stacking! I commute often to bike, or to walk between clients / the gym / appointments. What better way to get my educational fix than to throw on an audiobook and cruise through 1-2 /week while mixing in something I’m already doing? Our brain is a case study in the principle of specificity. Our brain goes through a process called, “synapse pruning” as we age. This means that we prune away connections between neurons that do not get used, and build connections through neurons that are utilized more frequently. Our brains send these neural connections across synapses (spaces) between neurons. To help insulate these connections, and fire them more frequently, we lay down a fatty tissue called myelin, which helps make these impulses move along more efficiently. This can correspond to movement patterns, or just the neural pathways that make things seem “second nature.” Think of electrical wiring, insulated with rubber, that helps the electricity move through more efficiently: You get less flickering of the lights, or fewer breaks in the wifi. In the case of the above examples, I work within my existing "neural insulation" to make a more difficult task (reading) integrated with exercise (running/biking/walking), so that the time flies by with the latter, and I can incorporate the former.
Work smarter, not harder and make these new habits, mobility, meal prep, food tracking, and many more far more enjoyable. Despite what my industry claims to propagate, there is no magic bullet. There’s consistency, education and relying on the right sources for coaching, motivation and systems to move you in the right direction. Habit Stacking is as close as you get to it. Let your psychology work in your favor. Not everything needs to be mutually exclusive.
Look in your own life and there’s loads of habits you can stack yourself to improve what you’re already doing. What habits can you stack next? Leave a comment below!
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