How making tiny tweaks to everyday actions can work wonders and help you achieve your goals with ease – welcome to the practice of habit stacking

What if someone told you that doing two push-ups, waking up five minutes earlier or meditating for one minute would spark life-altering outcomes? James Clear, author of New York Times bestseller Atomic Habits, has built his career on the idea that real change comes from hundreds of small decisions rather than thinking big.

The technique he talks about is called habit stacking: the method of building new habits on the back of existing ones that are usually performed on autopilot – brushing your teeth, for example, taking a shower or making a morning coffee. In his book, James says: ‘… your brain builds a strong network of neurons to support your current behaviours. The more you do something, the stronger and more efficient the connection becomes… One of the best ways to build a new habit is to identify a current habit you already do each day and then stack your new behaviour on top.’

Start small

People talk about breaking unhelpful habits and letting go of things that no longer serve them, but this can feel overwhelming and exhausting. Habit stacking (also referred to as chaining, anchoring or piggybacking) is about making miniscule tweaks to daily behaviours to bring on impactful results. In other words, don’t attempt to change everything all at once.

The concept was first developed by BJ Fogg, a renowned social scientist and professor at Stanford University and author of Tiny Habits: The Small Changes that Change Everything. He believes that it’s possible to improve life immeasurably by starting small and he’s shared the concept with more than 40,000 people via his Tiny Habits programme. Based on 20 years’ research and coaching experience, BJ thinks that positive results come by focusing on what’s easy to change, not what’s hard. Examples might include drinking a glass of water while waiting for the kettle to boil in the morning, immediately changing into workout clothes after taking off your work shoes or saying one thing you’re grateful for that day when you sit down to eat dinner. But there are plenty of others. Registered nutritionist Charlotte Faure Green, for example, includes keeping an empty pint glass by the tap in the bathroom to remind her to drink water of a morning (see page 21 for more examples).