Jill's 3 Favorite Habit "Hacks" for Forward Momentum

1) Habit stacking 

2) Temptation Bundling 

3) Continuous Improvement 

1) Habit Stacking

Habit stacking is where you link a habit you already do with a habit you'd like to start. For instance, I started taking a new medication at a consistent time. So I needed a habit that I already did, to link it to. I chose brushing my teeth to stack with taking my medicine. By keeping a glass and my medicine near my toothbrush in the bathroom, it was an easy habit to start and be consistent with. Then I stacked with another. I wanted to drink more water and had heard that drinking 16 ounces of water, first thing in the morning, was good for weight loss. So I took my meds with eight ounces of water and then just refilled my glass one more time. I sipped the other eight ounces as I journaled.  Surprisingly,  I did shed a few pounds without any other changes. I don't know all of the science behind it, but I believe it was because the water filled me up and curbed my hunger. I was proud of myself for doing something healthy for my body and desired to keep it up by fueling myself with healthier foods.

2) Temptation Habits 

Temptation habits are when you take something you don't enjoy doing and combine them with something you do enjoy. The thought process being that you'll be more likely to do the unpleasant task since it means you get to do the thing you enjoy. Hopefully, the unpleasant task becomes more enjoyable as it becomes associated with something you enjoy as well. A few common examples are exercising while watching TV. You may not love exercise but may be willing to do it if combining it with TV watching. It would get you moving. You could commit to doing jumping jacks or push ups during commercials. Make a game out of it. Every time someone on TV says a certain word you have to do 10 sit ups. Another might be bookwork or budgeting. You might not enjoy having to log receipts or critically assess your spending. Try combining this dismal task with your favorite beverage or snack. Listen to music you enjoy. When these less than stellar tasks are accompanied by things we love we are more tempted to do them. 

3) Continuous Improvement/Micro Habits. 

Habits of continuous improvement or micro habits are habits that start small and grow to have a big impact. Let's say you decide you want to start doing push ups everyday. If you go at the task like gangbusters you'll probably end up sore, dejected and less than motivated to keep up the routine. Instead, decide that you are required to do just one pushup a day. That seems super doable. You do your one pushup and get to celebrate a win for completing your task. As a matter of fact, you may decide that you’ve already done one, you might as well crank out another rep or two. As you continue this day after day, you're getting stronger and you are better than you were the day before. There are compound changes being made. You have set yourself up for success and to make incremental movements that equal a big change in due time. An impactful example of this is discussed by James Clear in his book "Atomic Habits". He explains that a plane will land in an entirely different place if the trajectory of the plane is off even just a few degrees. Small changes make a big impact when compounded over time.

If you want to make an impact on your health or your quality of life, I highly recommend starting small as opposed to overhaul. I have tried building habits with the methods above and they have been tremendously helpful. Because they were small and made sense, they were easy to accomplish. The sense of accomplishment felt so good that I kept going. I recognized the benefits of the changes I was making and the results they were displaying in my everyday life. These three methods are my favorite because of their ease and simplicity. For more methods and an in depth look at these habit changes check out  "Atomic Habits" by James Clear.  

Happy Habit forming!