Using Habit as the Foundation for a New One: a Solid Way to Build Good Habits

“The kind of life we lead today is essentially the product of our habits - our daily routines, our daily processes.”— Jim Berry  

Some years back, after reading a little about habit stacking, I decided to put it into practice to ascertain its effectiveness. And now, I can confirm that it works—fantastically. 

So to begin afresh for you, let’s start with the meaning of a key word, “stack” on the concept of habit stacking. The dictionary defines it as: “a pile of things more or less neatly arranged one on top of another.” And the last part of that definition about orderly arrangement is what I want to emphasize for the purpose of this article. 

Therefore, habit stacking is about using an old habit as a foundation to build new ones; a thoughtful arrangement and association of new behaviours with an old habit. It is about creating a new, good habit with the aid of an already established one. 

In other words, you are using what you are already good at, as the basis for getting good at something new. For example, if you eat three times a day, as a matter of habit. Then you can attach a new, good behaviour of thanksgiving to God for His provisions for you after each meal.

Without this conscious plan of habit stacking, you may say you want to give thanks every day but never actually do, due to many reasons and excuses like forgetfulness or negligence. Stacking is how you make it a lifelong practice. 

However, you still need to be focused enough to make the new addition into a solid habit, especially, during the first 30 days as S. J. Scott states in his book, ‘Resolutions that Stick.’ He writes: "If you want to establish a new habit, you must focus on it until it has become a permanent part of your daily routine." 

To implement Scott’s counsel, ensure you perform the new behaviour, right after the old one, every time. Use the following formula as a daily reminder to always keep yourself on the right track in the field of habit stacking: ‘the same thing, the same sequence, every single time.’

Other factors that you need to consider to make the most of this practice are: one, it should be a meaningful behaviour that adds real value to you; and two, it should fit very well into your life. 

The fitting element is the crucial factor of success in habit stacking. This is because by placing the new behaviour in an appropriate place in your routine and lifestyle, you give yourself the best chance of making it stick with a minimal amount of effort. 

Joining behaviours together through stacking is a great way of making positive changes happen because as we perform them in concert on daily basis, we easily create a new synergized pattern for a better life, going forward. 

Kellie Sullivan writes in his book, ‘Habits: 5O Best Habits To Create A Successful Life,’ as follows: “Good habits can be developed through repetition. By incorporating behaviors, task and attitude to the regular routines, they usually become a habit, thus becoming natural and virtually effortless.”

So to become a stronger person without much strain, simply think of a useful seed of behaviour that you can incorporate into your life today, then plant it on the fertile soil of a firmly establish habit in your day. 

I dare you to try this within the next 30 days to attest the awesome power of habit stacking for yourself.

To Prevent a Fatal Drift, Commit Yourself to Tracking Process

"If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it." Lord Kelvin

To make an informed choice about something that needs to change, one must be quite clear that the status quo is either pretty bad or not good enough. And that knowledge is the outcome of an accurate assessment of the way the situation is. Therefore, it is by measurement that we know, for sure, how things are. Likewise, it is by measurement that we know, for sure, whether these things are getting better or worse.

So, for meaningful improvement to happen in any area of our lives, we need to measure something first. Awareness precedes changes and what gets measured is what gets improved. Yes, measurement comes before improvements as it gives us a clear picture of where we are in relation to our chosen destination. And as such, it compels us to make the necessary course corrections—on time—to stay on track to any path we have decided to tread. This tactic is of immense practical value for someone serious about making tangible progress towards a big goal. 

So, if you care about improving any area of your life, one way to guarantee a success is to avoid a disabling drift. And for you to be free of such blunder, you need to clearly measure something in practice. As Paul Meyer affirms, “Success is the progressive realization of predetermined goals.”

 

The progressive realization of a goal is the natural consequence of measurement coupled with making necessary adjustment towards that end. After all what’s the point of growth and improvement if there is no basis of knowing whether it is happening or not. 

The absence of this kind of commitment is the reason why the masses of people arrive at a different destination to where they initially set out to go. But for you and me, that’s not an option that we can allow. So to prevent a fatal drift—away from our cherished aspirations—we must commit ourselves to tracking, to measurement, and to counting relevant metrics of progression from this day onward. 

All winners are serious trackers!

To Regain Your Confidence, Start Doing Something Now

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” Norman Vincent Peale

Dictionary defines confidence as the self-assurance or a belief in one’s abilities to succeed. So confidence is what we believe about ourselves based on what we have achieved so far. It is what we know for sure we can do purely because we have done something quite similar or something more difficult before. 

In other words, the altitude of our confidence is largely determined by our history. In a way, confidence is the mental effect of a repeated practice. For example, someone who always receives compliments for the sweetness of the meals she cooks will likely have some confidence to enter for a cooking competition at any level. And someone who has been repeatedly battered for her poor cooking skills will most likely not want to compete with mere local cooks. This is why the professional golf champion, Hubert Green says: “Winning breeds confidence.” 

Clearly, confidence comes from a previous record of success. Therefore, the level of our confidence is proportionate to the nature of our past and present results; more wins automatically generate more confidence and less wins automatically erode our current level of confidence.

If the winning part of the foregoing doesn’t apply to you, then the next rest of this article should. So read on to learn how to create your confidence anew.

Build It with Immediate Action

If we haven’t succeeded at all in an area that we now want to pursue, we can still create confidence by mentally changing what we believe about ourselves—in that particular direction—at this very moment. 

That means, we need to become the kind of person that thinks and acts in a different way. Right here is where another form of confidence comes in. The confidence to believe we can change, that we can do better than before. 

As Hubert Green concludes, “Confidence (also) breeds winning.” By that he means a positive and strong state of the mind; a proactive mindset that we can learn, grow and start over even if we have failed miserably before. And this must be accompanied with immediate actions.

So if you lack confidence in yourself as a brilliant student for example. You don’t gain new confidence by merely daydreaming of becoming a scholar, but you gain new confidence by doing something meaningful towards a purpose.  You set yourself a target of studying, say, a book, every month.

What we actually do is what we believe we can do. And when we repeat the actions over and over, our confidence in our ability to do it (better) grows.

So do something now—even at a slow pace—to establish the fact that you can do it. Once you achieve that, then repeat the process until your confidence grows bigger than you can now imagine. 

Adopt the following good advice given to us by the author of ‘The One Minute Millionaire,’ Mark Hansen to increase your confidence in any area that you want. 

Hansen wrote, “Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what! Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.”

In a nutshell, be bias for action now if you want to create the confidence that you must have.

Do You Work Like a Dilettante or a Master?

“Consistency of practice is the mark of the master.” George Leonard

In a long moment of reflection, I pondered on the distinctive quality of a few gems of the world; the ones who tend to find it easy to do something spectacular, while most of us rarely go beyond the level of average. And the difference maker that I find is essentially in their attitude and approach to how they work. 

In addition, the common excuses that we make are not the real reason why only a few minds are influential experts in their fields and too many of us are mere dilettantes. 

Excuses like, “I am not a star only because I am not as talented as Michael Jordan.”

Or, “The competition of my industry is just too harsh, that’s why I can make a profit.”

Or, “I am not doing well at school because the courses are just too difficult to grasp.” 

Generally, all these apparent reasons for mediocrity are nothing more than excuses; the one factor that can override many limitations we face is our attitude and approach to how we do our work. 

To make this clear, let me illustrate the two polar approaches of a dilettante and a master. And at the end of this article, you can confirm whether you are on your way to becoming an expert or not—with regards to how you handle your craft.

How dilettantes Work

“It is raining now,” he says, “so I don’t think I can practice my craft today. I will rather take some tea and watch a good movie. I have been working hard for a few days. I deserve a little rest.” After all, ‘all work and no play make Jack, a dull boy.’ he argues.

That’s a classic moment in the life of amateurs. Their attitude and approach to their work is often dictated by external conditions and negative internal moods. 

Yes, they show up for work, and work superbly well, but only when the conditions are perfect, their mood is awesome and they are feeling really great. 

Any time they encounter negative conditions, internally or externally, they don’t pay their darn due for that day. For this reason, they dabble their way through life without a mastery of an essential skill that they want.

But masters approach their work in an inspiringly different way.

How Masters Work

In the same day situation as the above, a master will say. “Come heat or cold, I can’t afford to miss a day of practice.” Masters pay their due on any day. Because they thoroughly understand that the practical proof of their commitment is by keeping every session of their rehearsal.

On this point, I recently read a leadership book by Mike Murdock, wherein he mentions the words of a bestselling fiction writer with regard to how he works and lives. He says: “I get up at the same time every morning. I start writing at 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. each afternoon. I do it every day. It is a habit.”

This ability to show every day, to show-up and deliver, no matter what, (especially when it is easier not to) is extremely important that I have come to conclude that it is not only the difference between masters from amateurs. It is also what separates the great nations from the rest of the world. 

Now, it is your turn…

Decide to Live and Work like a Master

As you can see, both masters and dilettantes are ambitious enough to have goals to aim at but what separates them is not necessarily in having grand goals but in their level of commitment to the goals they set. As George Leonard points out for us; the discipline of unremitting consistency is the overriding mark of a true master. 

Masters always manage to show up for their most important work, but dilettantes are frequently at the mercy of their caprices and motivation. Masters make themselves do what they need to do, when they need to do it, whether they feel like it or not, but typical dilettantes approach their work in the exact opposite way.

Since awareness precedes choices. I hope I have done a little to help you make a permanent move into the class of masters with regards to how you live and work. 

In closing, I will leave you with the words of the author of ‘Pillars of Prosperity,’ James Allen as a parting gift to aid your resolution in this respect. He said: “A man has to learn that he cannot command things, but that he can command himself; that he cannot coerce the will of others but he can mold and master his own will: and things serve him who serves Truth; people seek guidance of him who is the master of himself.”

And only those who are masters of themselves can truly be the masters of anything else.

Dare to Design and Live an Excellent Year

“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.”—Abraham Lincoln

An awesome life comprises of many good years, and to live an excellent year, we must start with the decision to live right in just one day and then replicate the success of that one day throughout the year. 

Meanwhile, to fulfill this life-enhancing idea, we must think and reflect about what we truly want and where we are going. In other words, we need absolute clarity on what matters most at this point in our lives. Once we gain that clarity, then the next thing is to be decisive about making the necessary changes in alignment with our purpose.

This is important because if we neglect to proactively craft a better year, we shall by default live a year of mediocrity, or worse, a year of regress and degeneration. As the saying goes, “failing to plan is tantamount to planning to fail.” When we don’t decide and design how to live our days; our years will hardly take us to where we really want to go.

Each day that we procrastinate to live by a meaningful design; we are taking some layers off the sweet fruits of the promising future that we all desire. In essence, we need to understand that our future is not made by what we shall do tomorrow; our future is made by what we decide to do today. 

No matter how lofty our intentions are; if we neglect to design a healthy lifestyle, we won’t magically end up having an ultra-healthy body. If we neglect to schedule for a regular study, we can’t magically end up as the best student of the year. And if we neglect to plan for a successful venture; we can’t magically end up with super-profitable business in our industry. 

My core message here is this: to have an awesome year, we must design it first and then commit to living by the blueprint on day-to-day basis. As Debbie Ford, the author of ‘The Dark Side of the Light Chasers,’ once said, "You can’t just say that you’re committed to creating the best year of your life and expect it to stick. You have to make a conscious effort to allow this commitment to become part of your internal belief system."

Read on to learn the practical way of doing just that.

Design an Awesome Day First

To start with, know that living an awesome year is not about doing 300 things really well, but it is about doing very few, essential things really well, 300 times. As Gary Keller, the author of ‘The One Thing’ says: “You need to be doing fewer things for more effect instead of doing more things with side effects.” This idea is the basis of our design for an excellent year—starting with the first day. 

In line with your purpose, decide your big three goals for the next 12 months. After that, break down these goals into doable daily actions. I wrote ‘doable’ to make sure that your daily actions are easy enough to do and repeat for 300+ days.

Then create a space for each action in your daily routine. Now, you must act according to your plan. This is perhaps the most important of all: do your primary duty, every single day, without fail. 

This foundational factor is the yardstick for you to know whether your day is awesomely productive or not. And, to maintain the right course, live by this powerful daily mantra: ‘until my most valuable priorities are done, everything else is a distraction.’

Remember, you have decided earlier in advance where you want to end up at the end of the year. To achieve that, you only need to replicate your purpose-driven day, every day, for the rest of the year. If you do this, not only will your vision be guaranteed to happen; it will also make your journey a little less stressful. 

And the good habits that you build as a result will make the subsequent years far more promising.