Lifestyle, Wellness

Ever tried building a healthy habit and it just won’t stick? You try to keep up with the habit but you can’t for the life of you, remember to do it. 

If this is you, (and believe me, I’ve been there) I’d love to let you in on a little secret. 

It’s called Habit Stacking. 

What is Habit Stacking?

Habit stacking is when you nail a habit into your routine by adding it to something that you already do on a daily basis. 

For a more obvious example, let’s say you are trying to add tongue scraping into your routine. 

1. You go into your bathroom to brush your teeth.
2. You are reminded that you want to start tongue scraping.
3. You scrape your tongue before or after you brush your teeth. 

And there it is… the habit stack. 

Now, this doesn’t have to be with two habits that are related like in the example above. It can be two things that are totally opposite from one another. 

The key is that one of them needs to be an already developed habit.

How I Have Used Habit Stacking

In my own experience, I have used habit stacking quite a bit to help me get some habits down. 

• I added oil pulling and tongue scraping to my existing habit of brushing my teeth
• I added dry brushing to my existing habit of taking a shower
• I added affirmations to my existing habit of my morning skincare routine
• I added walking on my walking pad to my existing habit of creating content and answering client emails
• I added taking vitamins to my existing habit of eating lunch

Sometimes all you need is a reminder and it is easier to be reminded by something that you do everyday anyway.

When You Remove the Barrier, You Remove the Excuse

It is easy to forget about something that you haven’t made a part of your routine yet. But, when you remove the space between that thing and actually doing it, you also remove the excuse as to why you don’t do it. 

What I mean by this is, if you want to add oil pulling to your routine, leave the coconut oil next to your toothbrush. If you want to add dry brushing to your routine, leave your dry brush in the pocket of your robe that you wear to the shower. If you want to add affirmations to your routine, leave your list of affirmations in your skincare or on your mirror. 

If you remove the space between what you want to do and remembering to do it, a habit can be formed effortlessly. 

And if you are completely lost with no habits and no routine at all whatsoever, I’ve got another blog coming for you. 🙂