What Is Habit Stacking And How Do You Do It?
Habit stacking is the art of changing your daily routine by learning new and multiple habits through a chain of actions instead of developing them one by one. Since you’re linking mini-habits altogether, it’s much easier to follow, do, and reinforce. Here are 7 steps on how to do it.
Step #1: Set a 5-minute block for each new habit to learn
Practice finishing a habit you want to learn within 5 minutes before the next. For example, finish reading and answering emails within the 5-minute period before calling clients, customers, and business partners.
Step #2: Anchor the new habits to learn to related and existing ones
Here’s how to do it:
- As you arrive in the office, arrange your desktop and put yesterday’s trash in the bin within a 5-minute timeframe. (new habit to learn).
- Use the computer and tend to business emails within 5 minutes. (existing habit).
- Get off the computer and call all the clients and inquiring customers within 5 minutes using the phone (new habit to learn).
- Start solopreneur work until the morning break (existing habit).
Routines are easier to establish if the new mini-habits are connected to related and existing habits.
Step #3: Pick the right time and place for learning habit stacks
It is important you should associate a habit stack to the right environment and time because it makes routine setting much easier. Take the bulleted example from step #2. All the linked new habits and existing habits are office tasks.
They are also scheduled to do before work so that the learning of the new habit stack will not interrupt the flow of the next existing stack - morning solopreneur work.
Step #4: Use habit cues
A habit cue can be anything as long as it is unique and detectable by the 5 human senses. You should use one as a trigger or a reminder for habit learning. An example of a habit cue is your phone’s multiple alarm feature.
When the first alarm goes off, wake up. The second alarm is for you to go get off your bed and to the bathroom to take a leak. The third alarm is the cue that you should drink your first glass of water. And so on..
Step #5: Give yourself small and enjoyable rewards
When you’ve done a mini-habit from a stack, reward yourself. It can be using the extra time from the 5-minute timeframe for small leisure activities like opening social media or watching a video on YouTube. It can also be a light snack or just simply praising yourself.
Step #6: Focus on repetition and don’t break the chain
Once you have successfully practiced your solopreneurial habit stacking today, follow the same process tomorrow. Then do it daily until the habit stack you intend to develop is done naturally without the use of cues.
Keep on repeating your habit stacking activities daily even if you’re not in the mood or don’t need it. The key is not to miss and ruin your behavior conditioning. If you want to wake up early for work during weekdays, rise early during the weekends as well.
Step #7: Build habit stacks one at a time
Don’t learn multiple habit stacks at the same time. Behavior change hurts and it’s harder to do altogether. If you want to build two habit stacks for the morning and afternoon, focus on naturalizing the new morning routine first before building an afternoon one.
Habit stacking might be an easy thing to do to make significant changes in your daily routine for productivity, but it will still be hard if you’re not strictly following the conditioning process. So remember, self-discipline and mindfulness are the keys to developing habits of productivity for a successful solopreneur. Focus your mind on your responsibilities and anticipate the next cue for the next task.
Discover more tips to boost your productivity as a solopreneur here!