For those of you that are regular readers of this newsletter, you will hopefully have caught on to the fact that I am a big fan of creating habits that start small, but have huge changes later on.
As exciting and adrenaline filled as short term transformations are, most of the clients I look after just do not have the time or emotional capacity to take something like that on.
It took me a long time as a coach to find out how I needed to adapt my approach to suit my demographic.
I was constantly banging my head against a wall! At the time I felt like a failure as I was not able to produce countless before and after photos of clients going from zero to hero like many of the successful transformation coaches out there. I would ask questions such as... Why are my clients not hardcore enough? Why don't they want it enough? Why are my clients lazy? Why are they not athlete's? Why can't I get the same results as those guys?... I must be rubbish!
Thankfully I was able to get over the disappointment that many trainers have when they first start out and after countless hours of studying, attending courses and consulting with many of the top coaches in the world, the penny finally dropped. "Patrick, stop putting your agenda onto your clients, listen to what they really want and meet them where they are, not where you want them to be!"
This is when I discovered the power of habit stacking.
So what is habit stacking?
Every day, we perform many small tasks on auto pilot. This could be something as small as brushing your teeth or remembering to take a shower, We don't question it or even think about it, we just do it. It requires almost zero willpower. By attaching a new habit onto a current one this allows us to create new habits with minimal willpower.
To create a new habit we need to set a reminder for ourselves. This could be something such as leaving our gym bag ready to go by the front door. We then need to perform the habit, or in this case go to the gym. And finally we need to reward our-self for performing the habit. This is individual specific, but try to choose something other than a muffin.
The ability to choose small, easy to do habits that require minimal will power allows us to incrementally stack habits upon one another. Much like a tidal wave, the habits will seem small and inconsequential at first, but over time will be so powerful that they completely change your life.
Habit Stacking Examples
Going for a run- When I wake up, I will put my gym kit on and run outside for 10 minutes
Eating more veg- When I cook dinner, I will prepare a huge salad and store it in the fridge
Going to the gym more regularly- When I book my diary, I will book out an extra 30 minutes for a workout
Stretching- When I finish training, I will stay an extra 5 minutes to stretch one or two body parts
Positive Thinking- Whenever I think a bad thought about myself or someone else, I will cancel that with a positive affirmation
One thing I would like to add is that it is important to give ourselves feedback on how we are getting on with the habit we chose. A simple tick in a box for each day we complete the given habit can tell us a lot. If we are unable to sustain the habit then all we need to do is make it easier. For example, if Ben struggles to take his fish oil as they are in capsule form and struggles to swallow them, then substituting the capsules to a liquid is the way forward for him.
If we aim at introducing one habit every 2 weeks or only when we can successfully complete that habit 90% of the time then by the end of the year we could have up to 26 new game changing habits! Even half of that would be a huge improvement.
Yours in Health
Patrick Fallis