Habit Stacking (from Atomic Habits)

What is habit stacking?

Most of our routines originate from one trigger habit. Over time, new behaviors have been added to the original habit, and routines have been created. This has happened through something called habit stacking.

When behaviors are placed directly after an existing habit, they’ll begin to merge together. The reward from the original habit will act as a trigger for the second behavior, and so on. Depending on the original habit, your personality, and circumstances, these routines can have a positive, neutral, or negative impact on your life.

By understanding what habit stacking is and how it works, you can use it to build better habits and stop destructive routines from developing before they get out of control.

Why does habit stacking make forming new habits easy?

Every habit goes through something called the habit loop. The habit loop consists of three primary stages. Cue, routine, and reward. All stages have to be present before a habit can form. Let’s have a look at what this means before we move on.

Cue: This is the trigger. It starts the loop and prompts you to make a certain action.

Routine: This is the behavior itself

Reward: This is what you anticipate at the cue, and what keeps the habit loop alive.

When forming habits, finding an efficient cue is usually the most difficult. This is where habit stacking can help you.

When you place the new behavior after an existing habit, the reward from the first will, over time, act as a cue for the second. As the cue is present, you’ll begin to crave the second behavior. As you do this enough, the second behavior will become automatic. A new habit is formed.

To sum it up, habit stacking is effective for forming new habits because it removes the need for an external cue to new behaviors. It’s an easy solution to one of the hardest parts of building new habits.

What's Next?

For this challenge, you are being asked to come up with 3 new habits for September. Now these habits must be small ACTIONS that you can do that will take you a step closer to a goal. Over time, adding small actions toward a goal will eventually meet and surpass your intended goals. For example, if your goal is to exercise more, then one small action you can do until it is a habit is to do 10 WPUs after you brush your teeth each morning. By stacking your new WPU habit on top of brushing your teeth, the act of brushing your teeth will be your CUE to do your 10 WPUs until it becomes ROUTINE. Your REWARD is getting in more exercise. That was your goal. Over time you can build on your routines.

Habit Stacking isn’t about reaching your big goal overnight, but slowly over time as each action needed to reach that big goal has become simply, a daily habit. Brushing your teeth wasn’t a habit when you first started doing it, but the more that it became part of your daily routine, it became a habit. That is the purpose of habit stacking. Over time, you added more steps to your morning routine. Brushing your teeth. Styling your hair. Putting on make-up. Taking your morning pills. And so on. By introducing another small action into an already existing routine, over time, it will become part of that routine. It becomes a habit.

September Challenge:

You will need your journal or a notebook for this thread. Periodically, homework will be posted on this thread for you to do. Follow the instructions to prepare and then to start habit stacking. Each homework assignment will specify what you need to do on this thread to track your progress. Your habits you are stacking doesn’t have to be shared if you choose not to. As long as you are tracking them in your personal journal or notebook. Tracking your habit stacking can be one of those habits that you stack onto another existing habit.

Daily Tracking:

Today is:

Nailed it!

Did it but didn't stack it as planned.

Not quite but made an effort

Decided not to do it.

Completely forgot about it.

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