PHOTO BY DREW BEAMER
Habit Stack to Improve Your Health
If we can create one new healthy habit, we’re off to a good start
By Catherine Gannon Taintor
August 2022
Look at your health honestly. Are you obese or sedentary? Do you drink too much or smoke? Are you stressed? It’s never too late to make the decision to change risky behavior. It’s also not easy.
Breaking a bad habit or establishing a new healthy habit can be especially difficult for aging adults. Our habits and patterns are firmly fixed in our brains. However, adding one new healthy habit is easier to do.
James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits, suggests creating a new healthy habit to replace risky behavior. He says to stack a new habit on top of an old habit. Clear calls this “Habit Stacking.”
HABIT STACKING
Choose a “current habit you already do each day and then stack your new behavior on top.” For example, you may decide to walk for 20 minutes outside every morning. Your current habit could be to eat cereal for breakfast. Your new habit is to put on your walking shoes and step outside.
The formula:
“After I [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT]”
An example:
“After I eat my cereal, I will put on my walking shoes and step outside”
Then you chain small habits together. For example:
- After I take my first sip of coffee, I will write three things I want to do for the day.
- After I write three things I want to do for the day, I will eat my cereal
- After I eat my cereal, I will put on my walking shoes and step outside
The two-minute rule
A new habit should take less than two minutes to do.
“Gateway” habit
You are creating a “gateway” habit. “I will put on my walking shoes and step outside” is a ritual at the start of a larger routine
TIPS TO CREATE A NEW HABIT
- Make your habit an easy one when to begin
- Your new habit needs to be specific and clear. “Exercise more” is too vague.
- Choose a cue or trigger to start your habit-stacking routine.
- Use a habit tracker to stick with a new habit.
- If you miss one day, try to get back on track as soon as possible.