Have you ever been too tired at the end of the day to do something? I think most of us have. I found myself brushing my teeth and then collapsing into bed neglecting my skincare routine. I even wrote about adding this to my routine using habit stacking in a previous blog post (1).
Over the Christmas holidays, I read Atomic Habits (2) by James Clear. I’ve followed James Clear for a while and love his work on building better habits. When I came to the section about stacking habits, I reflected on why I wasn’t doing the skincare routine part even though brushing my teeth, using small brushes and flossing are firm habits.
For the past week, I’ve tried something different. I decided to start my routine with the skincare part rather than finish it and you know what, it’s been much easier. Since I know the teeth cleaning part is a no brainer, it all gets done. Now there was a day where I automatically picked up the toothbrush but since I was now a bit more aware, I was able to follow through.
I’m always looking for ways to make habits easier, so principles like this can be applied in other areas that I may be struggling in. It’s certainly worth giving it a try. Where could you change the stacking order to get things done?
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