Habit Stacking Part 2 #SOL22

Photo by Deniz Altindas on Unsplash

I recently read a post on Mrs. Shade's Blog Writing Momentum that led me to some further reading about habits and then led me to writing a post about habit stacking. If you want to start a new habit, then attach it to something you already do, such as eating breakfast, taking a shower, going to to bed.

I decided to give habit stacking a try this week.

My reading life has been in a slump, and it is not caused by anything negative like the pandemic. I have narrowed it down to two things:  change in bedtime routine and too much phone.

My bedtime routine has changed in the last six months. I am a night owl and my husband is an early to bed, early to riser. This has drastically limited my time reading in bed before I go to sleep because I don't want to keep him awake. I have also been finding myself grabbing my phone instead of a book, which leads to too much scrolling and not enough reading. (I bet none of you can relate to that, right?)

Trying to find a place to stack a reading habit was a bit challenging. I am a nighttime bather and spend lots of time soaking away the stresses of my day in the tub filled with hot bubbly water. I used to read in the tub all the time, but this has also become the place where I infinitely scroll! (I hear you gasping!)

This week, when I grab my towel and pajamas, I have also grabbed a book. And what do you know? I finished a book in just three nights. 

Maybe there is something to this habit stacking after all. Now if I could just stack cleaning my house to something...say like eating!

 

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