Habit stacking for a better life

We see big goals and grand resolutions being celebrated all the time. We are obsessed with fitness transformations, career milestones, self-improvements, and all these chase for overnight transformations stop as abruptly as they started.

Every January, millions and millions of people set grand resolutions- to exercise, to read, to build better habits, to build better health. But by February, 90% of this resolution fades into thin air.

Gym membership starts gathering dust, language apps forgotten, and healthy diet charts being abandoned. This does not happen because of a lack of willpower; it happens because of trying to change too much at once.

Instead of trying to change your entire routine or lifestyle, what if we try to add small steps or extra small activities to our existing routine?

For example, drinking a glass of water after you brush your teeth, or 2 minutes of stretching after waking up, or reading a few pages of a book while you drink your morning coffee.

These micro adjustments can lead to a simple, science-backed approach that builds lasting habits by attaching them to the habits you already have. This is called habit stacking. These small changes can reshape our lives, without the burnout of big leaps; there is no massive change overnight. So results are less visible, but you gradually collect behaviors until they become your routine.

The concept of habit stacking became widely known through James Clear's best-selling book Atomic Habits. In that book, the writer mentioned a powerful principle, that is, 'to build a new habit, attach it to an existing one'.

Our brain works on patterns and cues. When we regularly do something, our mind links that activity to a reason and context. By connecting a habit to that existing activity, the same context will be followed for two activities, and you won't need the extra effort to remember or motivate yourself to do the additional activity over time. This creates a link in our brain's neural pathways, reducing the mental friction that derails most attempts at self-improvement.

Our brain loves efficiency. So when a new action follows a similar trigger, it automatically becomes faster. A study from the European Journal of Social Psychology stated that an average of 66 days is needed to form a new habit.

Now this is a very long period of time. But when we are stacking habits, that curve is shortened because of borrowing momentum from routines that already exist.

James Clear also mentioned in his book that 1% daily improvement will not put extra pressure on a person, but at the end of the year, it transforms you 37 times better than your previous self.

If you train yourself in a way, for example, I will do 10 squats after I tie my shoe, the exercise will not feel like an extra duty in your daily routine, and fitness will infiltrate your day automatically.

Similarly, you can train yourself to read a self-help book every time you drink coffee or tea. Drinking tea or coffee already exists in your routine when you are adding it to a new habit, and over time, your brain associates the smell of tea or coffee with reading.

These small additions will chain together into a strong behavioral routine since one habit automatically triggers the next, like dominoes falling in a positive direction. The secret of success is not about trying harder. It's about designing smarter systems.

Now comes the important question- How can you build your habit stack? At first, you need to identify your anchor habits and pinpoint daily routines.

We all do common daily routines like waking up, commuting, eating meals, scrolling, and using social media. We can choose these permanent activities as anchors, then choose one new habit at a time, and choose in a way that the new habit is related to the previous one.

For example, adding flossing habits to brushing teeth. When one stack feels automatic, layer it with another after you're done with your night routines. Stretch for a few minutes or drink a glass of water to make your change easier.

You can create the proper environment for it. For example, keep a yoga mat by your bed or a water bottle on your desk, or keep a book nearby. In this way, you can remove friction.

You should also have backup plans. For example, you cannot run in the rain, so have backup plans for indoor exercise in case it's raining. This will create a ripple effect of small habits with backup plans to avoid obstacles. It will not have an overnight effect, but it will make incremental progress that will last a long time.

Transformations are a compound effect. Our small habits may seem insignificant on their own, but over time, these insignificant changes rewire our identity.

Like feeling a bucket with little drops of water, reading a page a day becomes 10 books a year. Grand resolutions will not bring you transformation; rather, tiny but consistent action that aligns with who you want to become will bring the actual transformation. We all sometimes intend to change parts of life, make it better. Habit stacking can help us bridge the gap between intention and execution without causing mental fatigue. Therefore, we should start small and stack smart and be patient throughout the process. Life will change and become better quietly but steadily.

safrinakbir@iut-dhaka.edu