What is a stack of habits and how it makes life better

We live in a world of productive people. They do an excellent job, maintain order at home, regularly devote time to loved ones and do not forget about themselves. Seeing how others delicately balance between professional and personal life, we can feel useless and helpless. If your daily routine doesn't leave you time to take care of yourself, try a new approach: a stack of habits.

What is the peculiarity of the stack of habits

This is a simple mental trick that helps turn things into a real quest and easily complete it. Method back in 2014 in his bookS. J. Scott. Habit Stacking: 97 Small Life Changes That Take Five Minutes Or Less Habit Stacking was described by Steve J. Scott. The process of making a stack of habits is simple: you need to write down all the tasks that you already regularly do, such as walking your dog or driving to work, and add self-care techniques to them.

How to start building a stack of habits

Pick a New Habit

It can be absolutely anyone. Ask yourself what you would like to work on. Perhaps there is some activity for which you do not always have enough time, but which makes you feel better.

The main thing is to add as many details as possible. Let's say you want to lead a more athletic lifestyle. Don't add the abstract word "workout" to your to-do list. It is better to fix it more specifically, for example "do the exercise"rock climber"10 times in the bedroom." And then "attach" this activity to another daily habit, say, to make time for such a small workout after breakfast.

Minimalist Moms podcast host Dian Boden practices it this way: every morning she does a few push-ups right after brushing her teeth. “If I already have one stable habit, why not add another one to it? This connection helps to maintain new habits, and gradually they become a natural part of life, ”said Diane Boden in a comment to HuffPost.

Make a list of daily habits

Look at your routine and highlight the things that you automatically do every day. For example, you make your bed every day, make coffee, or take the subway to work.

Get it all down on paper. This way you become aware of your capabilities and can choose tasks that are suitable for adding new habits to them. For instance, psychotherapist Allison Chawla recommends pairing dinner with gratitude—before eating, write down or say out loud three things you are grateful for today.

There are other potential combinations: meditate for a minute while the coffee is brewing; doing a few yoga poses right after changing clothes after work; Spend 5 minutes journaling before bed.

Presenter Dian Boden advises stacking habits into categories. For example, combine two healthy ones - drink a glass of water before and after a daily walk.

Do not hurry

The main purpose of creating a stack is to teach the brain to automatically associate one habit with another. However, this takes time.

Don't overload yourself. Imagine that you have several habits at once that you want to start, for example, switch to a healthy diet and do stretching. No need to combine both at once or complicate your day by combining them with other things. Start with a healthy diet, and when this habit is established and becomes part of your life, move on to stretching.

Try not to lose patience if the process of introducing a new habit is delayed. Doctor and academic advisor Andre Pinesette notes that a stack of habits is a kind of lifestyle change. And you may not see the results you want because new habits increase productivity in one area and decrease it in another.

Also, don't forget that stacking habits is not multitasking. You shouldn't do two things at the same time. Instead, use the completion of one task as a signal that it's time to move on to another.

Track your progress

It's important to make measuring your progress a habit as you move towards your goals. Keep track of yourself, whether you always write in a diary before going to bed or whether you remember to do push-ups after brushing your teeth. You can write down your progress or tick off the notepad - it will cheer you up.