Habit stacking- how to to form desired consistent habits by using current habits
What is habit stacking? Habit stacking basically is a strategy one can use to form desired habits by pairing them with existing habits. For example you want to form a habit of reading everyday 5 pages atleast, to make sure you perform that habit everyday you can pair this habit with a habit that you already have and you repeat it consistently. For example having a breakfast, so the habit goes like this: everyday while having breakfast I will complete reading 5 pages of a book once you successfully link a desired habit with an existing habit you are more likely to perform it.
How to successfully perform habits staking?
Habit stacking can be simple and once it catches consistency it can make it easy to form any new, better and desired habit with much lesser effort however sometimes one may find themselves unable to stack a habit and be consistent with it to avoid any such situations there are some tricks one can use:
1. Create obvious cues
While you choose a habit you want to link to a desired happened make sure to create some obvious cues within the environment that would make stacking easier, for example : placing a book on the table before you prepare yourself a plate becomes an effective cue that can trigger a response of picking up that book and reading it while you are having your breakfast the easier it is for you to perform that habit you more likely you are to do it.
2. Keep it simple at the beginning
Keep the goals of any desired habit simple at the beginning because your mind always find that hard to stick to something that doesn’t show progress which means that linking the simple easy to perform habit tricks your brain into thinking that doing it would require much time and energy and the more you perform that habit the easier it will get to get started but if you create tough goals at the beginning it may be motivation that makes you complete that habit for a day or two but the motivation is a temporary tendency sooner or later you will find yourself not in a mood of giving out too much energy. Hence the line of progress will get negative and the habit loop to will come to an end very soon. Once you are successful in being consistent you can upgrade your habit however you like but before that the very main goal of creating a habit is consistency.For example - you are more likely to repeat a habit that aims to finish 5 pages per read than 20 pages per read and not being able to complete a habitat at the very beginning of creating a habit and weaken your motivation to forming it.
3. Be specific with timeline and location and repeat in same manner
While performing habit starting you need to be specific when exactly? and where exactly? this can increase the chances of repetition and progress. For example -you can be specific with the place like on the table and while having my breakfast. The use of small details can contribute to a systematic setting up of a habit and a systematic setting up can lead to consistency without any need of constant help from willpower because the habit is now easy to perform and once it becomes a strong loop any upgrade to a habit will not affect its consistency.
4. It’s okay to miss once
When you are trying to create a new habit it is OK to forget about it or miss it once or twice not being able to do it without fail does not mean its not working at all or it cannot be started again. Consistency is a gradual built up in getting demotivated for an imperfect start will only make it worse what you make it better than being consistent anyways
