By Asha Nair Ganeser
You might have developed strong habits like waking up early morning or brewing a cup of morning coffee. Those habits can be reutilised to create more new habits, and the process is summed up under the name “Habit Stacking”.
Habit stacking is about grouping small habits together for keeping a regular follow-up. People can have more consistency in maintaining regular habits as well as increase their productivity with this approach. Instead of starting a new habit, add new habits to your existing habits, just like stacks. I recently read a book on habit stacking by Scott (2017), reflecting the utility of developing new habits by taking advantage of the existing ones. All that one needs to remember is a complete checklist that consists of both current and new activities. Adding up small changes in regular habits can make a significant difference in work and life. Habit stacking works well in professional life since it makes individuals get rid of tackling huge tasks or changes once at a time. Imagine you decided to wake up at 7 A.M. After 3 days, you add one more habit; doing freehand exercise after waking up. In this way, you can add up more new habits and at the same time continue the existing ones.
For children, it is high time to practice this habit stacking since they are at the dawn of physical, cognitive and emotional development. It will give them a huge benefit in the future by enabling them to balance work lives and doing self-care.
In a nutshell, success is always a process. The more consistent you are in your goals, the better you will be at accomplishing those goals. As the quote said, “The key to lasting change is sticking with small things every day.”
Resources:
Scott, S. J. (2017). Habit stacking: 127 small changes to improve your health, wealth, and happiness. Oldtown Publishing.
