The Power of Habit-Stacking
It’s so easy to focus on what’s not going well.
“I’ve not gotten into the program of my dreams.”
“My job sucks!”
“I have poor self-control :(“
By default, human beings have a recency bias, where the most recent thing seems to be the most important or most ‘true’. On top of that, we also have a negativity bias, where we spotlight the negative even when they’re insignificant or inconsequential.
What brought me/us here, you might ask. Well, I was thinking along the lines of some of the thought examples I’d shared above. In my case however, it was particularly about how I’d still never managed to hack the habit of waking up early (by 5:00am), like I’ve wanted to for donkey years now.
While I self-evaluated and realized some of the reasons why that hasn’t happened yet, it lead me to other thoughts. You know the saying that you’re a sum total of all your habits? It rings true and true. I was listening to the audiobook version of Atomic Habits by James Clear again today and it hit me like a ton of bricks! My intended habit of listening to a Blink (or trying to) everyday since the pandemic in 2020, has kinda stuck! I’ll explain more in the coming paragraphs.
During the pandemic, Blinkist opened it’s library to many users and I had the opportunity of listening to many summarised, distilled words of wisdom from several books. One of which was Atomic habits by James Clear. I’m not sure how much of it stuck, but I distinctly remember the concept of ‘Habit Stacking’. That is, piggybacking a new habit you want to form on the shoulders of an already strong one. E.g. most people brush their teeth very morning. It’s very easy to take this seemingly mindless time to listen to an audiobook/Blink as well. And that’s exactly what I did!
In the lock-down months and after, I resolved to listen to a Blink every morning while I had my bath. During the pandemic, it wasn’t very hard to follow as many of us had very little to do with our days. This probably also helped me in the early-habit forming days. However, as we found balance in the world post-lockdown, it was very easy to forget to do my ritual, especially while hurrying to get to work on time (Lagos traffic and other fun stories). Other points James mentioned in his book were
1. Make the habit pleasant.
2. Make the habit easy to do.
In retrospect, my naturally curious mind loved the thrill of discovering new knowledge in each Blink and it made it a fun and easily pleasant activity. That’s how I ticked those boxes in the habit stacking list unknowingly.
I’d say another thing that helped me is my propensity to write notes a lot, in an attempt to plan my days/life. In following James Clear’s advice to habit stack, whenever I wrote Brush or Bath, I kinda just included Blink. A sweet alliteration! So my to-do list looked something like this
- Wake up 5:00am (yeah right! 😂)
- Brush/Bath/Blink 5:30am — 6:30am
- etc…
Mentally, it helped me also associate bathing and brushing with blinking. So, whenever, I took up my toothbrush, I would typically say ‘Bath, brush, Blink! Where’s my speaker?’ The speaker is to hear the Blinks out loud, by the way, above the sound of running water.
Of course, there were, and are days that I don’t (listen to a) Blink in the mornings. However, these days are the exceptions rather than the rule because I’m kind-of hardwired to carry my speakers to the bathroom with me every morning. On such days, I’m typically under time pressure or my routine was disturbed. It could also be that the Blink was too boring and I had no interest, or I woke up late and had to jump straight into work or I just wasn’t in the mood or I forgot (although rarely).
Unfortunately or fortunately, my free Blinkist subscription was expired after a while and I now have access to only one free Blink per day. But I’m not even complaining because I think this in it’s self, made the habit more sustainable. I don’t feel under pressure to scour the library. As someone who struggles with indecision when making choises from a large bouquet of options, it eliminated a huge problem for me. It also made the task SMART; small, actionable and precise: Listen to the free blink everyday.
When I set this goal of a Blink a day, my goal was just to passively or actively be 1% smarter everyday. While I don’t have any real measure for it, it’s nice to know that I know a little something about apartheid in Africa by listening to The Making of Modern South Africa by Nigel Worden, or about being a good CEO by listening to Built to Last by Jim Collins, or just look forward to whatever was recommended in my Blink library.
Now, it’s almost an unconscious habit to Brush/Bath/Blink everyday. That’s the power of habit-stacking! Everything I listen to, though not always relevant to my immediate sphere of reference and has made present or future me in some way wiser. Trust me, I’ve experienced this.
Habit-stacking in this way, is one thing I’ve learnt, applied and I’m happy is going on well.
How do you think you and I can apply this to other areas of our lives? Have you tried habit-stacking, or read James Clear’s book ‘Atomic habits’?
Please let me know in the comments! Thank you for reading ✨
