HABIT STACKING
How to Build new habits by taking advantage of old ones.
Synaptic Pruning: There is a phenomenon that happens in our brains called synaptic pruning. Synapses are connections between the neurons in your brain - they can be seen through a microscope - tiny “fingers” or “limbs” working hard to connect to the neurons. As you age, your brain “prunes” away the connections between neurons that don't get used and builds up or strengthens the connections that get used more frequently, allocating energy toward building connections for other life skills.
These frequently used connections form our habits and skills. Synaptic pruning occurs with every habit you build. Just like weight training, the more you, the more you do something (habit), the stronger and more efficient the brain connection becomes.
Habit Stacking
You can take advantage of your strong, often unconscious habits, by STACKING the new habit you wish to create, onto the existing habit. By linking your new habit to an existing, easy behavior, you’re more likely to stick with the new behavior. So great right?!
The formula: After/Before [Current habit], I will [New habit].
Examples:
Before I drink my coffee/tea in the morning, I will drink 16oz lemon water.
After I pour my cup of coffee each morning, I will meditate for one minute.
After I sit down to dinner, I will say one thing I’m grateful for that happened today.
Generalized Habit Stacking: Once you’ve got the hang of this, you can implement it in a more general way, throughout your day. For example, if your general goal is to eat healthier try this habit stack: “When I am serving yourself a meal, I will always put lots of veggies on my plate first” (or “when I’m sitting down for a meal, I will always eat my veggies first”)
Habit stacking gives you a set of rules outside of your emotions or your ego (that tends to self-sabotage); a game plan you can trust, that will help to hold you accountable, knowing what actions come next on your path to transformation and self-discovery.
Our minds like to tell us we’re “weak” and “undisciplined”, but in fact, we’re more mechanical than we give ourselves credit for. Our brains literally determine what we may or may not do or accomplish. Yes there is free will, but when we understand the mechanics and miracles of the brain, we can let go of the negative self-talk, knowing it’s not us, it’s our synopsis!
In a way I’m kidding…but this should come as some comfort to you. You’re not weak or lazy or undisciplined, you simply need a strategy.
With sugar season upon us and new year’s resolutions approaching, I hope this action step can provide you some guidance, comfort and motivation to set new goals, knowing you can achieve them! For major habit forming inspiration and actionable steps, I encourage you to read Atomic Habits by James Clear.
I’d love to hear if you try this and how it goes!