Last week, we looked into how habits are formed and how to substitute bad habits for good ones. We got an insight into habit loops and how they form and the 4 part process that leads to making a habit and repeating it day in and day out on autopilot.  Today, I wanted to delve into the world of sticking to the good habits you make and acquiring good ones, and motivating yourself to create new ones. This may be of use to you particularly if you want to acquire a new habit of working on your English more frequently. After all, consistency is king! Stay tuned to find out how you can become the habit-making king/queen. 

You can’t just wake up one morning and think, “Oh! I know, I’m going to start a new habit” and suddenly Kachinga! Boom! New habit acquired. It doesn’t work like that. This is where many people go wrong when they make New Year’s resolutions on the 1st of January. They start all guns blazing, only to find by day 14 they’ve given up and gone back to their old ways and they didn’t create that new habit they so desperately wanted. 

How can we make a new habit tempting, tantalizing, and motivating? Think about starting a new habit of working on your English a few days a week, let’s say, more frequently than now.  We all have the “I haven’t got any more time.” /  “There aren’t enough hours in the day”- feeling. But, there are various things we can do. Listen to the next part to find out what it is that you can do to build good habits. 

Building Good Habits

Habit stacking

Trying to automatically put a new habit into your routine doesn’t work. You need to link it to something you are already doing.  This is why habit stacking is so powerful and gives you such a sense of achievement. Let’s start from the beginning because you are probably wondering what on Earth habit stacking is. Firstly,  the meaning of “stack”. It can be a noun or a verb. To stack is to place things one on top of another. You may stack books on a shelf so that they are all on top of each other in a pile. People stack plates in their cupboards and put them on top of each other. There can be a stack of books under the coffee table if you are an avid reader. 

If we combine habits and stacking we get “habit stacking” and that is when you identify a habit you already have, a good one of course, and stack or add your new behaviour on top. Join the two actions together. By doing this you will link your new activity with one that is already established and bingo! Bob’s your uncle.  In no time you will be doing these 2 or 3 things automatically.

When you begin to habit stack you shouldn’t be overambitious. Let’s imagine, you want to start moving more.  How can you incorporate more movement into your day if you have limited time? Imagine you make a coffee twice in the morning, you could use the time it takes for your coffee to heat up or brew to get some extra steps in, to do some squats or some stretches or push-ups. Five minutes in what might be otherwise “wasted” time scrolling on your phone various times a day can really build up.

Perhaps you want to get into the habit of drinking more water, you probably won’t remember every few minutes to drink a glass of water. Why not habit stack and as soon as you wake up in the morning and go to the bathroom, make sure to drink a glass of water? One extra glass more than normal and in no time you will be doing it automatically and it can really work wonders for your health.

Habit stacking and English

I can’t help it, I’m an English teacher. I had to link this article with learning English in some way. Many people say they don’t have time to do anything because in their mind “learning english” is “studying English” and that means sitting down at a desk and doing exercises from textbooks.  I’m sorry to tell you, but whilst that is one way to improve your English, habit stacking is the way to go, little and often and consistency. 

We need to identify habits we already have and find pockets of time where we can. Pockets of time are everywhere. It’s a question of identifying them, organising them and making English proactive a priority. 

How can you habit stack and take advantage of these pockets of time to improve your English? 

Let’s take an example. Imagine you want to expand your English vocabulary. You don’t have to sit there for hours and hours studying lists. Think of ways you can do that using the habit stacking method. 

Set yourself up for success. The night before, make sure you have a list of words/phrases you want to learn. Prepare the list while you are relaxing on the sofa, instead of half-watching the TV and/or scrolling mindlessly on your phone. Don’t overthink or overcomplicate things. By preparing a short list you have already made the process easier for yourself. 

When you are waiting for your coffee to heat up for your mid-morning coffee, you can take that time to revise the words. Take a look at them, repeat them / write sentences using the words… There really are so many micro exercises you can do that will lead you to your main goal of expanding your vocabulary. ( By the way, If you want ideas about micro-exercises, let me know!)

If you want to start reading more in English, pick a time of day - maybe in the evening before you sit down to watch TV, pick up a book or a magazine, or read an article. Do it on a commute to work on the train. 10 minutes a day can really add up. Then, in the evening (as mentioned in the previous point) take 5 minutes to write 5 or 8 new words or expressions from what you read and make a list for the next day. 

If you love going out for a walk or exercising in the gym, listen to an audiobook/podcast connect the two activities together.

Imagine you want to improve your writing. Practice makes perfect as I always say and remember DONE is better than perfect and better than doing nothing at all. Get the idea of perfection out of your head. If you are travelling by bus or train - spend 10 mins of the journey writing a journal in English - Make it a daily thing. Get on the bus, take out your notebook and write. If you work remotely and you don’t commute, have a notebook by the side of the bed and write a few sentences before you go to sleep. Brain dump, write what happened to you that day. Maybe when you make your coffee in the morning (haha - I’m milking this example!) you could write a few sentences then!

It’s simple!

Connecting a new behaviour you want to acquire onto another already established one is extremely powerful and so much more achievable than getting to the end of your day and thinking that you have to “study” or “should” study English, not doing it and feeling terribly, terribly guilty.

Write your intentions

With this next point, I’m not going to lie, I used to think this was a load of rubbish but actually, I was wrong. Before criticizing it, I have tried it and I was wrong. Writing down your intentions is powerful. Very powerful. You are so much more likely to complete them. 

It can be as simple as this: 

Tomorrow I am going to: 

1.Read for 10 minutes in English (morning)    

2. Make a note of 5 new words

3. Prepare my list to revise tomorrow morning while making my coffee or while sitting on the sofa in the evening. 

Write down 3 achievable tasks you want to get done. 

Track your progress

Track your progress day by day. Week by week and you will actually see the progress you are making. There are loads of habit tracker apps online or you can use a pdf one.  Making a new habit fit into your already established routine doesn’t have to be a mammoth task. It’s not set in stone, and you can adapt your new habits to your day to day. If your new habit stacking method isn’t working then mix it up. Adapt it to you. If it isn’t working over a long period of time then something has gone wrong. It should really be an easy transition from one habit to the other. Tracking allows you to see how far you have come.

What’s the point?

I used to think, what is the point of doing whatever for 5 minutes because by the time I had started, it would be time to finish. I was also mistaken. You can do a lot more than you think in 5 minutes.  Try it. Set your alarm on your phone and focus on something for 5 minutes, like having a little tidy up of your living room or kitchen. If you do this several times a day, 5 minutes bursts of activity, it will make a huge difference. You can do this with your English too. As I said before, all those 5 minutes build up over the course of a day, week, month, year.

 Imagine you want to start writing more in English, sit down and write for 5 minutes. You’ll probably end up writing a paragraph or 5 or 6 sentences! A paragraph per day makes a lot of paragraphs in a month! That’s a hell of a lot of practice!

I suggest you should set yourself some mini-goals. Sit down with a coffee for 10 minutes and think about things you want to achieve and how you can habit stack. Become the habit-stacking king or queen of your life. Go and habit stack one thing this week to help you with your English and one to help you with your health! Go. 

Bingo!  I’ve just come up with it... Listen to this audio while you are out on a short walk.

EXTRA Idioms about habits

Old habits die hard - a habit that is really difficult to get rid of

"Even though he's trying to quit smoking, old habits die hard."

To be set in your ways - to be resistant to change and prefer to continue with established habits or routines.

Example: "Grandma is set in her ways and refuses to try new foods."

Creature of habit - Someone who follows a fixed routine or has a strong preference for familiar habits.

Example: "John always orders the same dish at the restaurant. He's a creature of habit."

Can't teach an old dog new tricks - Suggesting that it is difficult to change or teach new habits or skills to someone who is set in their ways.

Example: "My grandfather refuses to use a smartphone. You can't teach an old dog new tricks."

That’s all for today folks! Thanks for taking the time to read/ listen to this week’s issue. Please like and share to all and sundry!

Happy Englishing and have a great week.

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