Have you ever wondered why new habits, like learning an instrument, exercising regularly, or picking up a new language, rarely seem to stick? More often than not, it’s because these habits aren’t aligned with your existing routines.
Since childhood, you’ve been building behaviours and routines that shape your day. Maybe you grew up in a family of hikers and still love putting your walking boots on every weekend to climb peaks. Or perhaps your coffee-drinking habit began whilst studying for your exams at university and has stuck with you ever since.
To successfully adopt new habits, try stacking them onto these existing ones. For example, while your coffee brews, you could practice four minutes of mindfulness. After a hike, you might enjoy a protein shake.
The basic premise of habit stacking is: When I do [existing habit], I will do [new habit] after.
First, identify your existing daily habits. These could be as basic as getting out of bed, making coffee, eating lunch, brushing your teeth, or even chatting with friends. Then, pair these routines with small, new habits to make change effortless.
Here are five of my favourite habit-stacking ideas to inspire your goals for 2025!
Just a quick thank you to my sponsor for this post, Symprove!
Thank you to Symprove for sponsoring this post. I’m excited to share how habit stacking can enhance your daily routine, including easy ways to incorporate their product.
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1. Movement stack
It can be tough incorporating new forms of exercise into your routine. Even if you’ve been running for most of your adult life, you may, for example, find it difficult to stick to mobility routines particularly if you are attempting to do them at different times. Or maybe you’ve always struggled to find an exercise that you can stick to.
To get started, you may benefit from stacking movement onto your existing daily habits. Before you know it, you’ll be doing these regularly and stacking further exercises on top of these.
Examples
- As your coffee brews, do some gentle stretches.
- Whilst doing your cleaning, turn on some music and incorporate some dance moves.
- After your run, do some mobility work.
- During TV ad breaks, do some bodyweight exercises like the plank or push-ups.
- Whilst walking the dog, try some slow jogging (unless you have a particularly lazy dog).
- If you have a weekly meeting with a friend or colleague, turn it into a walk around the park.
2. Gut health stack
Modern research continues to prove the importance of good gut health on the rest of our body, which has led to many gut health trends in recent years. But as you probably know by now, habits take a while to stick so you may not have successfully incorporated any good gut health habits into your routine.
For example, it can be easy to forget to take that gut health supplement (like this one from Symprove), unless you stack it into existing routines.
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Examples
- Take a Symprove shot before prepping your morning coffee or breakfast. Giving it 10 minutes allows your gut to fully absorb its benefits, setting you up for the day.
- Try some deep belly breathing after putting on your pyjamas to go to bed.
- If you drink soft drinks, try swapping them for kombucha or kefir.
3. Healthier eating stack
If you like many others are struggling to eat healthy well-balanced meals then you may benefit from stacking healthy eating habits onto your daily routines. Sometimes it is the small gradual changes that can end up changing your long-term habits.
Whether it is taking longer to eat your food or finding a way to get more fruit into your diet, try one of these healthy eating habit stacks.
Examples
- When you eat your normal snack, complement it with a piece of fruit or a handful of nuts.
- If you eat meals with other people try incorporating conversation topics into your mealtimes so that you eat slower.
- Before every meal, drink a glass of water to improve your hydration levels.
Build Symprove into your habit stack
Get started with 50% off your first three months, using code EDIBLEETHICS50 at checkout.
4. Personal growth stack
Finding time for personal growth can feel impossible when you work such long hours. But there is still an opportunity to stack it into your daily routine. Because of my workday, I like to focus on stacking personal growth into my morning, lunch, and evening routines, depending on how tired I am.
By stacking these into your daily routine you may find yourself feeling more mentally stimulated throughout the day.
Examples
- Whilst you drink your morning coffee, read a book, the newspaper, or try out a crossword.
- After eating your lunch, do 30 minutes of language learning.
- After you finish work, instead of scrolling through social media, start a new hobby like knitting, sketching, or poetry writing.
- Before bed, or after drinking your herbal tea, try out a few sudoku puzzles or an audiobook if preferable.
5. Digital detox stack
Most of the world needs to spend less time looking at computer or phone screens. But it can be so easy to fill time with social media, so much so, it drains time from positive habits. So try stacking these digital detox habits into your daily routine and you’ll find yourself picking up your phone less.
Some people may benefit from stacking a digital detox habit onto something non-digital related so that they aren’t already drawn to their screen. This may not be a problem for others, so I have included a mixture of stacks.
Examples
- After checking your emails in the morning, take a 5-minute walk outside to clear your head.
- After watching your favourite TV show, read a chapter of your book.
- After your evening bath or shower, put on a candle and do some breathing exercises or meditation.
- Once you put on your pyjamas, write in your gratitude journal.
Build Symprove into your habit stack
Get started with 50% off your first three months, using code EDIBLEETHICS50 at checkout.
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