Habits: Stacking Habits for morning and evening routines

Build a Daily Routine With Habit Stacking

Hey Mary,
Happy Fall Y’all! Technically its still Summer until September 22, but it’s Labor Day weekend, kids are back in school, the water is getting chilly for Paddle Boarding and the nights are cooler. That means a change in seasons!
This new season can feel like a new beginning. And a new beginning means its a great time to start a new habit!
Think way back to January 1st 2021 – did you make a resolution?
How is that going for you? If not so well, maybe it’s because you didn’t build in habits needed to support your goal. We are going to be talking all about Habits this month.
There are morning routines and evening routines that perhaps are habit-based already for you. You may get up, eat breakfast, shower, brush your teeth, and depending on how early you get up; exercise may be in the morning routine as well.
Habit stacking works by looking at what you do automatically and then add/stack a micro habit to it. Micro habits are something that takes only a few minutes to do.
In creating daily routines, you identify what you already do that is good and then attach a tiny habit to it.For example, if you do a few minutes of yoga in the morning, you can stay on the mat and do five minutes of meditation. After that is complete, you can do four minutes of visualization, and to finish it up, do three minutes of deep breathing.
I’ve mentioned my routine in previous FAB Fridays – 30 days to Grace by Diane Sieg. (5 minutes breathing, 15 minutes yoga, 5 minutes meditation and 5 minutes journaling)This is very similar to Tony Robbins 4 part morning routine, which is four tiny habits, one right after the other.
To create a habit-stacking routine, look at your day and come up with times and locations as your prompts. Some examples could look like this:- Once I wake up, I will…- Once I start work, I will…- Once I have a break or lunch, I will…- Once my work is complete, I will…- Once I finish dinner, I will…- Once I hit the gym, I will…- If I travel, I will…
 Make sure to have a good reason why you want to stack the habits you have picked out. A big why is essential for any habit or goal, or you will not put in the necessary time to do it.
Once you have a routine filled out, spend one month installing these new tiny habits stacked upon each other.Repetition is key; you will need to do the same actions repeatedly for 21 to 30 days to make the new habit stick.
Look at stacking habits into different areas of your life such as:

• – Leisure (Your days off and your vacation time)
• – Organization (Keeping the house clean, organized, and decluttered, along with your workspace)
• – Finances (Making and saving money. Reducing debt)
• – Productivity (Finding your best working hours and getting tasks done on time)
• – Spirituality (Connecting with the earth and your Creator)
• – Health and Fitness (Your mental and physical well-being, including what you eat and how you exercise)
• – Relationships (Developing loving relationships with family and friends. Getting along with co-workers)

Let’s look at a daily routine for relationships using habits stacking.We will use the dinner hour as our example.(BTW if you don’t know what you are making for dinner – check out the Magic Meal Planner below!)
– When we prepare dinner, I will ask about their day.- When we sit down to eat, I will say how grateful I am for not only the food but having them in my life- During the dinner, I will put away my cellphone and focus on what they sayDuring cleanup, I will touch my partners’ lower back to make a physical and emotional connection.- After dinner, I will take their hand, and we will walk around the block while I express my loveJust like goals, being accountable will help you to succeed. Tell people what your stacked habits are, and if they see you miss a step, they can remind you what you need to do. How can you change one small thing in your business so that it becomes a habit for the growth of your business?

TAKE ACTION:Here are some business HABITS you can take on in this new season:

• Create time to think each day
• Write down your goals each day
• Enter notes from your calls into a database right after your call is completed
• Add tasks to task list immediately and attach a due date
• Review your calendar for tomorrow at the end of each day
• Create Bookend habits to start and end your workday (check email/calendar/read affirmation/update task list, etc)

If you need help hashing out how to define and implement some habits I can help! Schedule a 30 minute chat with me today!