If you have the desire to become more focused and therefore more productive, yet find that you can't quite turn your desire into positive action, then this article is for you.
The other day we spoke about how to start a new habit using the 2 minute rule, in the first article (linked below) of the series, The Path To Focus: How To Start A New Habit.
Today we are going to take a look at another excellent technique from James Clear's book, Atomic Habits, called habit stacking which is to be used in conjunction with the 2 minute rule.
Rewiring Your Brain
Ultimately we are the sum of our habits, from the time you wake up, to the time you go to sleep, you are performing a myriad of tasks with complete automation. Even really complex tasks can be automated with enough practice. This automation is, as you'd expect, controlled by our brains.
These events in our brains are caused by the firing of neurons. However those neurons do not work in isolation, they work as a team, so much so that neurologists have a saying;
Those that fire together, wire together.
All this really means is, if every time you see a friend, you have a coffee and a cigarette, then before long all you need to get a caffeine and nicotine craving, is to see your friend. Because the neurons that fire when recognising your friend, are used to firing in conjunction with the ones that appreciate caffeine and nicotine.
If you are unaware of the fire together-wire together rule, then we you at the mercy of our habits. You are literally lunging from one automated process to another. Wondering why you never seem to be able to start the projects you so desperately want to.
However if we know about this rule, then we can exploit it. To use a popular term of the time, we can hack our brains and rewire them to suit our purposes.
In other words, you too can become that hyper-focused person that you so admire.
Hack & Stack
So how do you take advantage of the brain's propensity to form subconscious associations?
Quite simply, you do something which James Clear calls habit stacking. This is a technique whereby you stack something you need to do, on top of something you already do habitually.
If we combine this with the two minute rule, we arrive at a very powerful way to start a new habit. So for example you may want to start exercising, so you say to yourself 'after I put the kettle on for my morning cup of tea/coffee, I will do a couple of minutes of sit ups while the kettle is boiling.
Or perhaps you want to write a book, or learn how to code. So in that situation you would find a habit you have around your computer, maybe something like; each time I check my email, I will write random words for two minutes.
It really doesn't matter what existing habit you use, or which one you feel you need to start, as long as you follow the formula.
After (current habit) I will (new habit).
Know Thy Self
It is the very same automatic nature of habits that give them their great strength, and at once their crippling weakness.
Because habits happen in this semi-autonomous way, you are often completely unaware that you are doing them in the first place.
For instance, from making my tutorials I've noticed that when I'm recording the voiceover for my tutorials, I have a habit of sucking my breath through my teeth after I make a point.
I also kind of click my tongue against the back of my teeth each time I finish off a particular editing segment.
Both of these habits are not great for recording good sound, however unless I make a conscious effort to think about it beforehand, I am totally unaware, until I go back to edit and I realise I've been sucking and clicking all over the place.
It is easy to draw down an example from speech habits, we all know people who say "um",*"ah", or do you know what I mean? as they are speaking. However these hidden habits can be found everywhere, from biting your nails to putting on the kettle in the morning, they manifest in all sorts of ways.
So in order for habit stacking to really be effective, you have to be aware of how many habits you have, and what they are.
The best way to do this, is to sit down somewhere quiet, open up a document on your device, or even get a pen and paper, and list down all your habits.
note: this can be daunting, so use the 2 minute rule to start off.
Below I've copied a sample of my own habits, you'll notice that I have plus, minus, and equals signs next to all of them. This represents good, bad, and neutral habits, though remember a good habit for me, might be bad for you, or vice versa.
For instance if you have an internet marketing business, you probably need to spend a fair amount of your time on Facebook, therefore logging into that site would be classed as a neutral, or even a good habit.
5 a.m. Wake up =
Turn off alarm =
Check What’s App =
Tidy Kitchen +
Drink glass of water +
Meditate 25 mins +
Yoga (2 mins) +
Turn on computer =
Open Chrome browser =
Logon to Facebook -
Check notifications -
Check feed -
Logout of Facebook +
Logon to TMFF -
Check notifications -
Browse new posts -
Answer at least 1 question/post =
Logout of TMFF +
Login to Steemit -
Browse new posts -
Answer at least 1 question/post -
Logout of Steemit +
Unplug internet ++
Start writing book (2000 word target) +
Daughter wakes, give her a cuddle/snuggle +
Finish morning writing sesh +
Logon to Facebook -
Check feed -
Morning stuff, breakfast etc. =
Take daughter to school walk dog =
Logon to Facebook -
Check Facebook feed -
Logon to TMFF -
Check posts/answers/notifications -
Logon to Youtube -
Watch at least 2 vids -
Unplug internet +
Finish 2000 words writing sesh +
Logon to Facebook -
Check feed -
Logon to Youtube -
Watch average 10 videos -
Logon to Steemit =
Write Steemit post +
Note: Some habits are bad depending on when you do them. So for me logging into Steemit at 5.30 a.m. is a bad habit because I am eating into the crucial couple of hours of peace and tranquillity that I get to work in before having to do family stuff. Whereas logging in because I need to post, or want inspiration for a post, is a neutral habit.
Staying In The Loop
So now you have all your habits written down you can start to stack your new intentions on top of them, and it is best to stack on top of good or neutral habits (we'll come to bad ones in a later article). So for instance if you look above you'll see that I have two minutes of yoga after meditation.
This is because by doing this, I am taking advantage of the habit loop, which is; cue, craving, response, reward.
So the first time you do a drug, have sex, meditate, drink coffee, or anything else that makes you feel good, you get a dopamine hit in your brain, and it is that which makes you feel good.
The next time you engage in the same activity, you get your dopamine hit before the actual act itself, it is the anticipation which gives you the hit. This is otherwise known as the thrill of the chase.
So the idea with habit stacking, is to put your new intentions on top of your good habits, or at worst your neutral ones.
That way, when you are performing your new task, you get a residual dopamine feedback loop. In other words your brain thinks to itself:
Every time I do this new task, I feel really good, therefore I must do this new task again.
If you repeat it enough times, it will become a habit that you no longer have to think about.
Conclusion
When you perform one activity with another one, you are forming neural pathways in your brain that will forever link those activities.
The automatic nature of habits, is the very thing that keeps them hidden from us.
In order to start a new habit, you can take advantage of the fire together-wire together rule and start performing a habit you want to, straight after one that you already regularly do.
The best way to habit stack is to write down all of your habits, and grade them good(+), bad(-), or neutral(=). The more you write down, the more you'll become aware of where you can stack new habits.
Always try and stack new habits on top of either good, or neutral habits.
The Path To Focus:
HAVE YOU HAD ANY LUCK IN STARTING HABITS SO FAR IN 2019? HAVE YOU TRIED USING THE 2 MINUTE RULE? WILL YOU COMBINE HABIT STACKING IN ORDER TO START A PROJECT? OR PERHAPS YOU HAVE TECHNIQUES OF YOUR OWN? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!
Title image: Matthew T Rader on Unsplash