Habit Stacking: A Powerful Tool For Change
With every season change, it feels like there is a natural break in our current routine. These breaks allow for a reflection on our current habits so that we can understand what has been working for us and what needs to go. Embracing this season change, I have tried to commit to one new healthy habit each week.
While that may sound daunting, breaking up and stacking tasks can be a helpful tool to trying new habits without overhauling your whole life. The task each week does not have to be time consuming and it does not have to happen everyday. If implementing a new habit every week feels excessive, biweekly or monthly new habits can be just as effective. Essentially, if you’ve had goals that have felt overwhelming for a long time, there are ways to complete them in chunks.
In previous blog posts, we discussed SMART goals. Having one main overarching goal is a great place to start when it comes to your new weekly habits. Asking these questions can spark ideas for change:
What does the healthiest version of yourself look like to you?
What is an area in your life that you have wanted to improve?
Is there a health or wellness goal that you want to meet?
Have you had conversations with your healthcare providers about changes?
You could also work toward overall wellness by building upon the habits you already have. Choosing health habits that you currently invest time in can be helpful in the beginning. For example, maybe you do resistance training twice per week and you would like to do it three times. Or, maybe there are weeks where you resistance train four times and others where you only train once, so you are looking to be more consistent. Building upon a foundation can make weekly habits more manageable.
Chunking tasks is the biggest goal with this challenge, but it can also be fun to see how much you can stack over the next two months! By the end of eight weeks, you will have adopted eight new habits and proven to yourself that the goals that once seemed daunting are actually quite attainable. Below are my current weekly goals!
Week one: drink a glass of water with lemon after waking up before any caffeine
Week two: exercise in the morning before starting other tasks for the day
Week three: consume at least 20 grams of protein in your first meal
Week four: drink calming tea before bed
Week five: meal prep lunch and dinner for the work week
Week six: complete yoga or meditation practice two times per week
Week seven: move your body outside at least once a week (hike, run, biking, etc.)
Week eight: journal three times per week
This list is by no means a one-size-fits-all solution, but it’s an example of implementing small tasks to improve overall function and health. Many of the above tasks will feed off of each other; the better your nutrition is, the better you will be fueled for your workouts, which will improve your mental health and sleep. Wellness is all encompassing and seeks to align both the physical and the mental health of an individual.
Let us know what habits you have chosen and how you plan to spend the next eight weeks!
- Alex