Creating new habits involves a bit of psychology, doesn’t it? Habit stacking is a practice that allows you to take advantage of the way your brain works, instead of fighting with yourself to bootstrap or willpower your way to a new habit.
Oxford University researchers discovered in a 2007 study that as we age, our brains reduce the synapses for behavior we don’t use and strengthens those we do.1 This is called “synaptic pruning.” Practicing piano is an example of the brain building connections that make doing something easier. If you don’t practice, the brain doesn’t learn to play. Synaptic pruning happens with our habits. Your brain builds a strong network of neurons that support behaviors. The more you do something, the stronger and more efficient the connection becomes.2
Habit stacking is a fairly new idea that is gaining momentum. Wall Street Journal bestselling author S.J. Scott introduced the idea of habit stacking (also “habit chaining”) to the world in 2014 with his book, Habit Stacking: 97 Small Life Changes That Take Five Minutes or Less, and it’s been expanded on by others in books such as Atomic Habits by James Clear and Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg.
The basic idea is to build a new habit by attaching it to one you’ve already established. James Clear created this habit stacking formula:
![Woman drinking her coffee in the sun with headphones on and eyes closed](https://assets-us-01.kc-usercontent.com:443/9832d3f0-685b-0021-9fc3-0a88ee8dfc7a/6c9e45e2-a16f-43fc-9e2c-d17a2a062570/MorningCoffee_Meditation_Blog-InCopy_H.jpg)
For example, “After I pour my cup of coffee each morning, I will meditate for one minute.” Or, “After I sit down to dinner, I will say one thing I’m grateful for that happened today.”
You can apply this simple formula to forming healthy habits and add ‘while’ I [CURRENT HABIT] to the equation:
“After I take off my work shoes, I will immediately change into my workout clothes.”