On How to Build a Healthy Habit

This Week’s Topic: Habit Stacking

1 Strategy 🎯 

For most of my adult life, I'd hear the same thing every time I went to the dentist.

"You really should floss more."

And who doesn't love being chastised for not practicing basic dental hygiene?

I'd leave every dentist appointment with a fierce resolve to start flossing every single day. I'd start strong, but after about a week I’d be back to my non-flossing ways.

And six months later I'd be in the same dentist chair, being reminded yet again that “I really should floss more”.   

But a couple years ago I cracked the code - I’m a daily flosser and I haven't been scolded by dentist since.  

In this week’s newsletter you’ll learn:

• A framework for thinking about habits.

• A simple technique to help your healthy habits stick.

The Habit Loop

Every single habit you have is comprised of just 3 components that come together to form what behavioral scientists call a “habit loop”.

1. Trigger: The change in your internal or external environment that motivates you, consciously or unconsciously, to take some action.

2. Behavior: The action you take you take in response to the trigger.

3. Reward: The positive sensation you experience as a result of taking the action.

For example, if you’re a daily coffee drinker, you likely have a habit loop that looks like this.

But back to flossing - the reason I couldn't make it a habit was because I was asking my brain to create an entirely new flossing habit. 

And while I was clear on the desired BEHAVIOR (daily flossing), I had no TRIGGER and no REWARD, making it impossible to build a reliable flossing habit loop.    

The solution?

Habit Stacking - the practice of taking advantage of connected behaviors by taking one of your existing behaviors and stacking a new behavior on top. 

The solution to my flossing challenge was to stack the flossing behavior on top of an existing habit - washing my face in the shower. 

By simply keeping my floss in front of my facewash, I was able to seamlessly stack my new flossing behavior onto an existing morning routine.  

This same technique can be applied to a host of positive leadership behaviors that you might want to turn into habits, such as:

• Networking more consistently

• Keeping your inbox tidy

• Getting more sleep

• Sharing more positive feedback with your coworkers

• Staying current on industry trends

• Contributing more in meetings

• Developing a mindfulness practice

Whether your goal is to improve your dental hygiene or enhance your leadership skills, habit stacking can be a game-changer.

By understanding the components of the habit loop and strategically stacking new positive behaviors onto existing ones, you can avoid frustration and pave the way for creating positive habits that stick.

1 Quote 📜 

Reply to this email and let me know how it goes! I look forward to hearing from you.

See you next Wednesday,

Darin

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