Habit Stacking: Using Old Habits To Create New Ones

Welcome to another live session with me.

My name is Emilio José Garcia.

My mission in life is to make intentional living simple,

Fun,

And available to any person on the planet.

Thank you so much for being here today.

Let's just take a few seconds to just get into this session together,

Okay?

Let's set the intention together.

Just listen to the singing bowl as I play it and close your eyes and just take a couple of deep breaths,

Okay?

Another one.

And just remind yourself why did you decide to come here.

Just remind yourself why are you here?

What are you wanting to get out of this time together?

Thank you so much for doing this practice with me.

I think it's important to transition into this session.

Some of you maybe were doing something exhausting.

Some of you maybe were doing something that required a lot of energy.

And it's good to transition intentionally between tasks,

Okay?

So now we are going to do this session together.

And today's topic is going to be about habit stacking.

This is a topic that I talked about before and I mention it quite a bit,

Especially when talking about time management.

This is a topic that you can find in many books.

Some of the latest books that I found was on Atomic Habits by James Clear.

He has a very nice section about habit stacking and the benefits of it.

There are other books that talk about this.

But habit stacking,

So in this session,

I want to give you a little overview of what habit stacking is.

I want to give you an overview of why it's important and how it's going to help you create new habits by using the old ones that you already use on a daily basis.

And then I'm going to show you some of the ways that I personally implement the habit stacking into my life.

And then we're going to,

Together,

We're going to brainstorm your habits,

The ones that you want to change,

The ones that you want to integrate into your life.

We're going to brainstorm together in how we can make that happen,

What kind of habit stacking we can create for your specific situation that is fun,

That is playful,

That is simple,

And it's consistent and can happen every single day.

Okay,

That sounds good,

Guys.

Are you happy with that structure today?

Amazing.

So the first thing that I want to talk about is,

So habit stacking is basically using a habit that you repeat on a daily basis and then stacking a new one on top.

So for example,

I like drinking coffee every morning.

Okay,

So a habit stacking for me could be to grab a note and place it on top of my coffee mug.

Okay,

So in the morning when I am going to make my coffee,

I cannot pour coffee in the mug because there is a note on top of it.

So I have to read that note,

I see that note.

So I will look at the note and then I can write whatever I want in here.

Maybe the note says,

Emilio,

Deep breath two times.

Emilio,

Do two push-ups.

Emilio,

Be grateful for three things from yesterday.

It doesn't matter what is the new habit that you want to create.

The note is going to remind you.

So that's a habit stacking.

I use my drinking coffee,

My morning coffee habit to create a new one.

Another thing that you can do,

As you can see,

My coffee mug has an elastic around it.

So this is not usual.

I will notice the elastic.

Okay,

So when I look at my coffee mug,

I see the elastic and that's going to remind me like why is this elastic here?

Why did I put an elastic here?

So that's going to prompt me into,

Oh yeah,

I have to deep breath two times.

Okay,

So that's just one example,

Okay?

And why not?

I have a sip of my coffee,

Why not?

Okay,

So that's one thing.

So you always do one habit and then you stack one on top.

Maybe every morning you go to your bathroom and then you wash your face and then you see yourself in the mirror.

That's a habit that happens every single day.

Or maybe you brush your teeth,

Okay?

So if you write something in the mirror,

Just one thing,

Don't write a thousand,

Okay?

Just one thing,

You are going to see it every single time that you are brushing your teeth,

That you are washing your face.

And that's going to remind you of creating that new habit,

Okay?

So that's the habit stacking technique,

Basically.

You can apply it in so many different ways and I will show you examples.

But why is it so powerful?

Because when we are trying to create new habits,

The secret to being successful is to make it very simple.

To make it very,

Very small,

Very achievable.

To make it very,

Very,

Very convenient to remind yourself in a way so that you remember to actually do it,

Okay?

And then once that,

And being consistent.

So you have to be consistent.

When you repeat those over and over for a few days and a few weeks,

Most likely your brain is going to automatically integrate that in your life because you have repeated enough times.

And this is how you form a new habit,

By repetition.

It doesn't matter how much time you repeat,

How long that habit takes.

Sometimes people want to start meditating.

And they say,

I'm going to meditate for 60 minutes.

Well,

That's a really long time.

Why don't you do the coffee technique and then you put a note on top of your coffee and then it says,

Close your eyes and meditate for 10 seconds.

And then I ask you,

How easy will be for you to close your eyes for 10 seconds and meditate for 10 seconds?

Will that be easy or difficult?

Convenient or inconvenient?

And how likely are you to meditate for 15 minutes?

And how likely are you to meditate for 60 minutes?

So think about it.

For those of you who meditate on a regular basis,

60 minutes is doable.

Maybe 15 minutes doable.

If you want to start meditating and you are not currently doing it,

The way for you to start maybe is to start very small.

So so small that you will do it and you will feel good about it.

That's the secret.

You need to gain momentum.

You need to be successful.

And the only way for you to be successful is to start very,

Very small.

That's why the book is called Atomic Habits.

Atomic is the most small part of the atom,

Right?

Atomic habits.

So if you look inside and you take out like the cell,

All the nucleus,

The electrons,

Everything,

The smallest part is an atom,

Right?

It's atomic.

And that makes everything in life,

The atoms,

The cells.

So atomic is so,

So,

So,

So tiny that is very easily doable.

And that's part of the main technique.

The habit stacking technique.

OK,

So do you guys understand so far what the habit stacking means and why it is so powerful?

You guys have any questions about that?

So yes.

Hello,

Will you talk about habits of the unconscious?

Jimmy,

I can talk a little bit about bad habits too.

OK,

But this is the thing,

Guys.

The habit stacking technique can be used for creating a new habit.

OK,

Can be used for transforming a current habit into tweaking a current habit or can be created to eliminate a habit too.

OK,

So you can use it in many different ways.

You can also be proactive when you have a bad habit.

For example,

Let's say that a bad habit that you have is you want to exercise,

But you just don't do it.

So being proactive and the habit stacking technique could be,

I am going to set my,

If you want to go for a run,

For example,

I am going to make it so easy and so convenient and so like visually appealing to me that I'm going to end up running.

So you are going to set everything at the door,

Everything is going to be ready.

You're going to have your running shoes,

Your shirt,

Everything,

The music ready to go.

You're going to try and make that task fun.

And then you are going to use the habit stacking technique to remind yourself of actually doing it.

So,

For example,

I can go back to my coffee.

Maybe I get up,

I'm going to pour my coffee and I see the elastic or I see a note that says Emilio,

Go and run around the block.

And guys,

How easy it is for you to run around the block.

Just get up,

Run around the block,

Come back and then drink your coffee.

What happens if you do that one week,

Two weeks?

Most likely your brain is going to start appreciating that habit.

What happens if while you are running,

You are listening to a podcast that you enjoy,

You are listening to music that is uplifting.

You are maybe talking with a friend while you run.

Why not?

You can make it playful.

And then you start developing that habit and the habit itself of running.

Maybe it's a minute,

Two minutes,

Three minutes,

Five minutes,

Whatever long it takes you to run around the block.

And once you have the habit created,

Then you get started going for longer runs.

Then it gets progressively longer and longer and longer.

OK,

So that's how you can create a good habit that of you can break the habit of not exercising.

OK.

So let's move into examples now.

How do I,

For example,

Do it?

So some examples of how I do the habit stacking.

The coffee one I show you,

I put a note on top of my coffee or I put an elastic around my coffee mug to remind myself of something.

OK,

Something that I have.

I have what I call I have a little rock.

It's a rock that I painted with paint and I call it the magic rock.

OK.

And I have it on my bedside table.

So every time I go to bed,

Because I go to bed every night,

I see the rock and the rock it's prompting me to remember what am I grateful for today?

What was my biggest takeaway?

OK.

And that's what I what I will do.

OK.

Another one is if I am reading a book,

You can put a note inside the book,

Something that you want to remember.

So every time you are reading your favorite book,

You are going to see that note and that note is going to prompt you into doing something.

OK.

And then you can use.

You can use magnets,

Any kind of magnet.

OK.

Imagine that you want to play your guitar more so you can have a magnet and even make it playful,

You can have a guitar magnet and then you can put that anywhere that you want to see it in your fridge,

In any metallic surface,

On the dishwasher,

Whatever.

And then every time you see it,

You are going to hopefully start playing the guitar more.

You can also create a little a little graph like this.

OK.

For example,

This is something that I was doing during COVID.

So it says it's like a plastic.

It's a piece of paper inside of this plastic cover.

And this allows me to use a marker to temporarily write what I have done and what I haven't done.

And then I can erase it at the end of every day and I can start from scratch again.

So in here I have doing five chin ups,

10 knees up,

10 push ups,

Meditation,

Deep breathing three times,

Juggling,

Playing the piano and petting my carnegrito.

So these are some examples.

And I have three squares because I'm aiming to do them three times a week.

Sorry,

Three times a day.

So how likely am I to just do five chin ups?

It just takes five,

10 seconds,

Right?

How likely am I to meditate for maybe a minute at a time,

Three times a day?

So three minutes of meditation.

It's doable.

So this is another example of how you can cross things that make you.

.

.

Crossing things off will make you feel accomplished.

When you can cross things off,

You will feel that you are succeeding.

Okay?

And when you can cross things off,

You are gaining momentum because the next day you are going to do it again.

The next day you are going to do it again and it's going to feel good.

You're going to start feeling good about yourself.

You're going to start feeling confident.

It's going to start feeling like I actually can create this in my life.

I can actually create this in my life.

And for those of you who are talking about bad habits,

What will happen if you forget about them?

What will happen if you just stop giving those bad habits energy,

Time,

Intention?

You just forget about them all together and you focus your energy,

Your time,

Your intention,

Your strategies in creating what you want.

How does that sound guys?

What is more appealing to you?

Thinking,

Putting your energy and creating systems to create what you want or focusing on what you don't want and how can I change that?

Do you see the difference?

Sometimes it's just that simple.

Stop placing intention.

Stop placing attention to that.

Stop just the more good habits you start creating,

The better you start feeling about yourself,

The more you are going to head towards that direction and the more likely you are to start letting go of the old habits that no longer serve you.

Okay?

So that's probably one of the most efficient ways to get rid of old habits.

Just forget about them.

Just stop giving them energy,

Attention.

Don't even feel bad when you do them.

If you find yourself doing them,

Just remind yourself,

Okay,

I have done it again.

No problem.

What can I do tomorrow to stop doing it?

So focus on the positive,

Focus on what you want and stop feeling guilty.

Stop feeling like I can do this.

I am a failure.

I suck.

Stop using that language guys.

It doesn't help.

It's more helpful to start thinking proactively.

What can I do tomorrow to avoid doing this again?

Okay?

So anytime you fail,

Anytime you find yourself drifting back to the old habits that you don't want,

Start thinking about how can I use habit stacking to start creating what I really want rather than doing this thing that I don't want.

But because I have repeat this thing for so long,

It just comes naturally.

It is automatic to me.

And this is another thing that I want to talk about.

The inertia,

The momentum that old habits have on you.

The old habits have been repeated for how long?

Just think about a habit that you want to break,

A bad habit that you are calling.

How long have you been doing that habit for?

It's been a month.

It's been a year.

It's been 10 years,

20 years.

How long?

The longer,

The more momentum that habit has,

The more momentum that dynamic has.

And the only way for you to break that is to start repeating a better habit more often so that that new habit becomes automatic,

Becomes a habit by repetition,

And then the old habit starts draining,

Starts disappearing slowly.

Okay?

So this is not something that you are going to like do this and it's gone.

It's going to be a process.

Okay?

It's going to take longer,

The longer you have repeated that habit.

That's why it's very important to be gentle with yourself.

It's very important to embrace the old habit that you are doing because you are doing it for a reason.

That old habit,

It is serving you in a way.

You just have to discover how is this habit serving me?

Why do I find myself doing this if I don't want to do it?

What am I getting out of this?

Okay?

And always think that what we do,

The actions that we do,

We are always looking for some sort of reward.

Okay?

So when you find yourself doing a bad habit that you don't want,

Start reflecting about why am I doing this?

Is this an emotional reason behind it?

Am I procrastinating something and I go there?

Am I feeling bad about something and this is my way to cope with it?

What is it?

And start really digging deeper.

Okay?

And once you understand that,

Embrace it,

Accept it,

Forgive yourself for doing it and start moving forward doing something different.

Okay?

So I hope you guys have a nice overview now of what habit stacking is and how habits get formed and how habits can be broken.

Okay?

The old habits that you no longer want.

And then this takes me to the last thing I want to share before we go to the examples.

The last thing is the most important piece,

Guys,

Is that you understand your intentions.

Okay?

Before choosing to change a habit to create a new one,

To break an old one,

Whatever you decide,

Make sure that this coming from an intentional place.

What does intention mean?

Intention means you being grounded with yourself,

You being aware of what you truly want and understanding why you want that,

Finding that reason that is so appealing to you so that you are always thinking about that reason,

That why,

That is inspiring because some people say I want to lose weight.

Well,

Losing weight is not fun.

Okay?

Decluttering your home is not fun.

You have to think about what do I get after that?

So I am losing weight because I want to what?

I want to hike more.

I want to have more energy to play with my children.

I want to be able to work harder at my work.

I want to be able to do a marathon,

Whatever that is for you.

So you are not losing weight.

You are getting ready to run a marathon.

That's so much more appealing.

Okay?

So if you are trying to declutter your home,

Decluttering is a chore.

No one likes doing chores.

But if you say,

I am not decluttering,

I am creating my peaceful bedroom.

I am creating my amazing kitchen that is going to allow me to eat better.

So start thinking about the ultimate goal that you are seeking.

And that's your intention.

How you get there is going to be,

It can be a hundred different ways and it doesn't matter.

Always keep in mind your intention.

And that's going to help you move forward.

So guys,

Intention,

More energy.

So now I'm opening the chat.

Let's just brainstorm about your specific,

Your specific habits.

Okay?

Let's talk about what kind of habits are you trying to eliminate?

What kind of habits are you trying to create?

And why?

Okay,

Why?

The chat is open now.

So guys,

What habits would you like to create using the habit stacking technique?

Just write down the habit.

Yes,

The habit.

No more social media.

Time suck.

What else?

Focus.

Okay.

So they were up.

When you say no more social media,

What is your intention?

So what happens after that?

Are you going to remove all the social medias or are you just going to be more intentional about how much time you spend on it?

Procrastination.

Late to shut down work or phone.

Need to do it earlier.

Eating sweets after dinner.

I am guilty of that,

Debbie.

Procrastination.

Procrastinating.

Okay.

For those of you who are procrastinating,

What are you procrastinating?

And why are you procrastinating it?

Better sleep.

Drawing art.

I am creating a habit of listening to podcasts,

Audiobooks in the morning so that I am not plugged with my own anxiety thoughts.

I will use your technique of putting a posit on my coffee machine.

Amazing Krista.

Love it.

To heal anorexia and bulimia.

I weigh and measure every meal.

Sounds rigid but freedom from obsession comes.

Amazing Amy.

One minute on my exercise bike every day.

I have not done it in months.

Sheryl,

I love one minute.

Guys,

This is the powerful.

You say now ten minutes.

Even if it's one minute,

Even if it's 30 seconds,

Sheryl,

The habit of you stopping what you are doing,

Getting dressed to go to that bicycle,

Going to the bicycle,

Sitting on the bicycle and pedaling for even 30 seconds,

That's already a habit.

And if you don't find yourself doing 15 minutes,

Start with 30 seconds.

Honestly,

It will work.

Give it a try.

For one week,

Your only job is to get ready,

Go to the bike,

Sit on it,

30 seconds and then leave.

I promise you that some days you are going to be 30 seconds and some other days you are going to stay longer and then you are going to form the habit because it's simple.

It's easy to achieve and you are going to start feeling good about yourself.

Decrease brain scatter.

So that what,

Bibi,

When you decrease your brain scatter,

What is going to happen?

And what kind of habit stacking technique are you planning on using?

So now that you guys have shared some of the habits,

Let's just write in the chat the specific habit stacking technique that you are planning on using.

So I would like you guys to share now the specific habit stacking technique that you are planning on using,

Okay?

And it's fine if you don't know yet,

That's fine.

I can share more examples if you guys want,

Okay?

But you need to get started somewhere.

Make a list.

Run out in cold as sun rises and swing my arms with deep breath.

It chucks my system out of rumination.

Start five minutes of organizing.

Guys,

You are not giving me a habit stacking technique here.

So Sue,

You said start five minutes of organizing,

But how are you going to create that habit?

What is the habit stacking technique that you are going to use for you to remember to do that?

Getting close right beside the bed so that I wake up and get dressed with shoes immediately.

Love it.

I actually do that.

Every night I send my clothes there.

Note on coffee cup.

With my coffee,

I will have two glasses of water and I will be grateful for two things every morning.

Amazing.

Daniel,

How are you going to do the habit stacking?

What is going to be the visual reminder that you are going to see to remind you of doing that?

Guys,

Think about this.

The habit stacking technique is very helpful if it's visual.

Visual reminder beats anything else.

You can create a list and put it in your phone.

You may forget to look at it.

You may create a list in your journal.

You may forget to look at it.

When you have something that is visual,

Something that wakes you up,

Like guys,

If I grab my coffee mug and I see an elastic around it,

It's weird.

It's different.

My brain is going to think,

Why is this elastic here?

If you go to brush your teeth and you see something in the mirror,

That's very visual.

If you are going to your closet and you have a hanger and you just have one of these clips that clips into the hanger and you hang a note that says whatever,

Anytime you go to your closet to get dressed,

You are going to see that note.

If you are drinking water from your favorite water bottle and you see an elastic around the neck or you see a posse on top of it,

Every time you are drinking water,

You are going to see that.

Start thinking about what is the visual habit stacking reminder that you are going to create.

A note near my bed.

I love it,

Laura.

Give it a try and see if it works.

These drawing materials by coffee maker.

Tonya,

Love it.

That's a good thing to do.

I am going to get magnets of my family on my fridge so that I remember to call and check in with them.

That's amazing,

Krista.

I love it.

Rubber band around wrist to drink water.

Amazing.

I will leave my toothpaste on top of my medicine bottle because I always forget the morning medicines.

Amazing.

I will tell you to take your meds if you cannot brush your teeth.

So you are going to look for your toothbrush or your toothpaste because you want to brush your teeth and that's a non-negotiable habit,

Right?

So that's an amazing habit stacking technique.

Leave the water glass next to coffee maker as a reminder to drink water before first coffee.

Amazing.

Posit on car shifter.

I love it.

You have to shift gears.

So you are going to sit for sure.

I love it.

My self-care list on the fridge and out of my journal.

Amazing.

In a very visual place.

Okay?

Getting an assortment of bands that all means something.

Will be awesome.

Rituals to cement these ideas beforehand.

Even better.

Amazing.

Rubbers.

Love these ideas.

Amazing guys.

You are having so many great ideas.

Some more ideas that you can do.

For those of you who are artistic,

This is something that my wife draw me.

It's like a painting,

A watercolor painting of me camping.

Okay?

Of us as a family camping.

So if you are planning on maybe creating a habit of maybe coloring more or maybe going camping,

You could create a painting of what you want to see in your life.

So if you are an artist person or you like doodling,

You could create maybe if you want to do yoga,

You could create a painting of you doing yoga.

Beautiful painting that you love.

And then you will place that on your coffee mug.

So how beautiful is going to be for you to go and have your coffee and see an amazing drawing.

Okay?

And who says a drawing,

If you are not an artist or you don't want to draw,

You can get a very inspiring photo.

You can download something and print it.

And then you can put that on top of your coffee or something visual.

So that is,

And that's what some people call a vision board.

Okay?

A vision board,

It's that idea.

So you are creating a vision board that is very visual and you are using photos of the things that you want to become,

The activities that you want to do,

The things that you want to see in your life,

You are seeing them every single day.

So that's a habit stacking technique because every time you pass through that room,

Every time you pass through that vision board,

You are going to see it.

And every time you look at it,

Your brain is going to look at the photos and every photo is going to remind you of something that is important to you.

Something that you want to create.

Okay?

So that's another idea.

Another idea is using little stickers.

Okay?

These are round color stickers.

You can,

I stole some from my daughter,

Stars,

Balloons,

Something fun.

And I could just get a sticker.

For example,

I can get this star and I can put this on my water bottle right here.

Okay?

On the lid.

So now I see this star on the lid of my water bottle.

So anytime I'm going to come and drink water,

I am going to see it.

And then that star is going to mean something to me.

Okay?

And I drink a little bit of water.

Why not?

So let me share you one story about stickers.

So one of my wife's aunt,

She wanted to create the habit of deep breathing a few times every day when she was at work.

Okay?

So what she did,

She grabbed round color stickers,

Very little ones.

Okay?

And then she put stickers in all the places that she uses on a daily basis.

So she went to the office and then she put a little sticker on her computer.

She put a little sticker on the coffee maker.

She put a little sticker on the printing machine.

She put a little sticker inside the bathroom when she was doing PO,

Whatever.

And then guess what happened?

So she created the habit.

Every time she saw the sticker,

She stopped and took one or two deep breaths.

That's it.

Guys,

How long it takes to do that?

One second,

Two seconds,

Five seconds at most.

So she started to do that and she created that habit at work.

But let me share with you what happened.

Okay?

What happened is that all the coworkers started to see the stickers.

And what do you think they did?

What do you think the coworkers did when they started to see stickers everywhere?

What do you think they did?

Just sharing the chat.

Just curious to know.

Breathe.

What?

They had no idea what those stickers were for.

Okay?

They just saw stickers everywhere.

Okay?

So they didn't know why they were there.

They asked and followed.

So they got curious.

Guys,

This is what happens.

This is how you create habits.

First thing,

You have to wake up.

So the people were like going through their day,

Probably have sleep without intention,

And they noticed something different.

They noticed something weird.

And they asked themselves like,

What is this?

Why is this sticker here?

So they started to get curious.

And curiosity is a great starting point.

So those people started to ask each other,

Hey,

Why are those stickers here?

Until my wife's aunt explained,

Oh,

Guys,

I put those stickers there.

And then they say,

Why are they all there?

And then she explained.

She said,

No,

I'm trying to create this new habit.

I'm trying to deep breathe at least twice every time I see a sticker.

And that's helping with my mental health.

That's helping me be more present.

I have more energy.

And it's just helping me in general.

So guess what happened after,

Guys?

Every single day after that,

She will go to the printing machine.

There was a line up.

People were printing stuff.

And what do you think people were doing at the printing machine while waiting for the stuff to come out?

What were they doing?

What were people doing at the coffee maker waiting for the coffee?

Everybody was deep breathing.

So how cool is that?

Imagine the impact that that little habit that she was trying to create had in everybody else.

So this is the power of you also sharing what you are doing.

You sharing what are you trying to create and why.

Sharing with everybody around you so that they can support you.

Maybe they even help you.

Maybe they even ask you,

How is that going?

And then that's called accountability.

That's called support.

That's called motivation.

And that's also called you giving other people the opportunity to do the same.

Okay?

So that's how things can sometimes unfold in so beautiful ways that you didn't even expect.

So guys,

What's coming up for you?

We have 10 minutes left.

Emilio,

Any help with medication?

I put it right next to my meal and still forget.

It makes me nauseous,

But even more nauseous if I forget.

So Amy,

Think about a habit that you do on a daily basis.

Okay?

What is something that you do without thinking?

What is it?

And then think about that consistent action that you take on a daily basis.

No matter what.

And then when you realize what that is,

Put a reminder there.

Okay?

So if every morning you get up and you put your slippers on,

Put a reminder on your slippers.

Put something in your slippers so that you cannot put them on.

And then you are going to think,

Why can't I put my slippers on?

Oh,

I have to get my meds.

Okay?

Maybe if you go to the washroom and brush your teeth,

Do what someone else has suggested.

Put the toothpaste or the toothbrush somewhere that you have to look for it.

Or put a note there that you can see it.

Okay?

Think about if you have an alarm clock and you always turn it off,

Just put something on top of it so that when you turn it off,

You see it.

It's like,

Oh yeah,

I have to do that.

So it doesn't matter how you do it as long as you find that consistent action that you are already doing.

Okay?

Yeah.

We do tooth brushing and medication.

Yeah.

Some people are already doing that.

So that's amazing.

That's an amazing idea.

Does that work for you,

Amy?

Is that a good idea?

Because if it's not,

Let's brainstorm more ideas because I'm sure we will find one.

Okay?

Put the medication on top of your phone.

Yeah.

That's another thing,

Guys.

For those of you who check your phone.

So this is my phone.

Look what I had in the back.

I have a note.

I have like a business card.

Okay?

You can have in the back anything that you want off your phone and you will see it.

I also have on the screen now this is recording the session.

Okay?

I'm not going to turn it off.

But when I turn my phone on,

There is a note that says,

What are you doing and why?

So every time I pick my phone up,

That note is showing up in the screen and I read it.

And then that's prompting me to be intentional.

Then I stop and say,

Okay,

What am I doing?

Oh yeah.

I need to inside time it to reply to some of the messages.

Okay.

That's what I'm doing.

Or maybe say,

Oh,

I don't even know what I'm doing.

Why did I pick my phone up?

I don't know.

I'm bored.

Okay.

Let's get on board.

Let's do something different.

I don't need to check my phone.

You know what I mean?

It prompts me to question myself.

So your phone is another great way.

Majority of you have a phone.

You use it all the time.

So use the phone to put a sticker on it,

To put a note on it,

To put a screensaver on it,

Whatever that is for you.

Make sure that you put it in a way that you will see it in a way that is going to be inconvenient for you to use the phone without seeing that.

Okay.

Where can I put the message?

Screensaver.

Okay.

Yeah.

Screensaver is one.

You can actually put an actual posit on top of your screen so that you have to remove the posit to see your screen.

So how likely are you to read that posit?

You cannot see your screen.

You have to remove it.

So how likely are you to see that posit?

100%.

It's admissible.

You won't miss it.

Okay.

Emilio,

Can you scroll up before it goes away?

So Amy,

Let me see.

Amy shared something.

I'm trying to find it,

But sometimes,

Emilio,

No,

Because I have to have it mid-mill.

I remember to put it on my plate,

But still forget.

So Amy,

Be more resourceful then.

What do you do before having your meal?

Do you heat stuff in the oven?

Do you use calorie?

Do you drink water?

Do you sit at a table?

What is it?

Try to think.

What do you do consistently before eating?

Okay.

And then once you find something that you do consistently,

That's when you are going to find that's the place to put your note.

Okay.

So try to make it as convenient as possible.

So you don't have to create a system around this because then it's not going to work.

You have to find something that you are already doing.

Okay.

That's the secret of habit stacking.

Are you going to do another class like that?

Like what?

What do you mean by that,

Nitz?

Okay.

Yes.

I weigh the food.

I'll put it on the scale with a loving note.

Amazing,

Amy.

So because you already weigh everything that you eat,

The scale is something that you do consistently.

That's a habit.

So put it on the scale in a way that you cannot use the scale unless you remove the note.

And that's going to be your reminder.

And I promise you when you repeat this probably one to two weeks consistently every day,

You will not need that note anymore because it's going to become a habit.

Okay.

Where can you see my recordings?

Guys,

You can see my recordings on the Inside Timer profile link.

Okay.

In there,

You will go to my website and then you will go to my podcast.

Okay.

That's how you can find the recording.

Okay.

What else guys is coming up?

We have five minutes left.

How do you feel after this session about the habit stacking technique?

Do you feel like is this something that you feel it's going to work for you?

Yes or no?

Just type yes or no just for me to get a sense.

Love it.

I can do it.

Yes.

Yes.

Thank you.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Uh,

Are there any nos?

I just want to know if anyone know.

Okay.

Lynn,

Why do you feel this is not going to work for you?

Lynn,

Do you want to share?

Do you want to share?

Will I get used to seeing,

Um,

So please tell us once again how to access you.

So Nancy,

How to access me.

Just go to my Inside Timer profile and go to the about tab and then there is a link in there.

And if not,

Type my name on Google,

Emilio Jose Garcia,

And you will find me.

Okay.

Very easily.

Uh,

Going to listen to Atomic Habits right again today.

Yeah.

So,

Carbon Habits is a great book and it has a section about habit stacking.

Okay.

So,

No,

I think we just need a clone of you in our lives.

Okay.

So,

For those of you who are saying no,

So it seems good to make good habits,

But not so much for bad habits.

Okay.

Lynn,

Let's talk about the bad habits and let's talk about what I said before.

It's important that you have some bad habits.

Okay.

It's important to understand why they are happening.

Okay.

Because you are doing them for a reason.

There is always a reason of why you do an action.

There is something,

There is always a reward.

You do something because you get something out of it.

You can get emotional,

Um,

Code mechanism.

Uh,

It can be a procrastinating technique to avoid doing something that is triggering you.

It can be that you are super bored and unfulfilled with your life and you just get home and you have,

Don't know what to do and you don't have intention and then you just eat chips.

It can be your relaxing way.

Like,

That's my relaxing way at nighttime.

I enjoy watching a movie or a show and I,

I like having a snack.

I love that.

So I try to moderate how much,

But I enjoy that.

That's something that I,

It relaxes me.

If it becomes a problem,

I will need to look for a different relaxing method.

Okay.

The problem is a stress reliever.

So the starting point for you,

Lin,

That you say yes as a stress reliever.

So why do you have stress?

Okay.

Let's just go to the root of the problem.

What's causing you stress?

Is there anything that you can do to alleviate that stress?

Is there anything you can do to create new habits or be proactive about doing something to deal with that stress source,

With the source of stress?

If you are having stress because you have physical clutter,

Let's try and tackle the physical clutter.

If you have stress because you feel that you don't have anything meaningful in your life that you are doing,

Let's find something that will give you meaning.

If you have stress because you are having a hard time with a relationship,

Let's find a way to communicate clearly and create healthy boundaries.

So there are always ways to getting started.

But when you are doing a bad habit.

.

.

So this is an example for you guys to understand.

Okay.

Sometimes you have to go to the source of the problem.

So if you are trying to stop a bad habit,

But you don't look at the source of why you are doing that habit in the first place,

It's like imagine that I have a hose,

A water hose.

Okay.

And I am spraying something and you are trying to prevent that water from damaging something.

So you try to use a plastic to cover it,

Use an umbrella,

Use whatever.

Why don't you just shut the hose?

Why wouldn't I just shut the hose right away and just eliminate the problem?

Why am I trying to keep the water from falling on that when I can just close that hose?

This is a very simple example,

But sometimes we are focusing on the consequences of something,

But we are not thinking about why are those consequences there?

Why did they come here in the first place?

And then you will understand why,

And then you will go to that root of the problem.

Because if you try to change a bad habit that is a stress reliever,

But you do not change the stress source,

You need to cope with that stress somehow.

And most likely you're going to go back to that because it's working for you.

Okay.

So start thinking about that.

Think about why are you doing that?

What's causing you stress?

And then once you start tackling that problem,

That habit,

It's either going to disappear or it's going to be easier for you to create a new one on top of that one.

Okay.

So maybe your habit stacking technique,

If you find yourself,

For those of you who eat a lot of chips like me,

Maybe I have to be intentional,

Create a healthy snack that I feel comfortable with,

And then I will put that on top of my chips.

And then I will eat that instead of my chips.

That can be something,

Right?

Or maybe I need to find something else to substitute what I'm doing.

So I need to try a cell chair with crunches or something.

Yeah.

Is it possible to unconscious is working against your new habits,

Creating anxiety,

For example?

Yeah.

Jimmy,

Something that I want to talk about is what you are saying.

There is going to be a resistance.

Every time you are trying to create a new habit,

Anytime you are trying to change something in your life,

Resistance is going to show up.

What is that resistance?

Resistance is when you do something for a long time,

When you are repeating a habit,

When you have a dynamic,

When you have a set of belief systems created on how the world works,

How the relationship works,

How you deal with stress,

How you express love,

You have some sort of beliefs.

Okay?

When you challenge some of those things in the form of trying to change,

Resistance is going to show up because what you are doing,

You are putting yourself in a discomfort zone.

You are getting out of your comfort zone,

Out of what you understand,

Out of what feels safe,

And you are stepping into something uncertain.

When you change,

You are stepping into something that is new.

When something is new,

You don't know what's going to happen.

It's something that you have never done.

So it feels uncertain.

It feels uncomfortable.

And it's normal that your brain is going to trigger like,

This is not safe.

We need to go back to comfort.

We need to go back to safety.

And then that's how we work.

That's why it takes repetition.

It takes consistency to tell your brain that that new thing is safe.

And that's why doing something very,

Very small and building up from there,

It's a great way of changing,

A great way of integrating some change in your life.

You are doing it in a very little doses so that you get uncomfortable enough,

But you don't get to the level that you will feel anxiety or you will feel paralyzed.

So you need to find your edge.

This is what I tell people.

You need to find your edge.

That edge means you are stretching yourself enough that this uncomfortable enough that you are exposing yourself to something new,

But not too much that is going to trigger you and your mental health in a negative way in the form of too much anxiety,

Too much overwhelmed,

Too much stress that will shut you down.

And then you will not do anything.

So that's the fine line that everybody here needs to find.

Everybody will have a different line,

A different edge.

So you need to find your edge.

OK,

If you feel too comfortable,

You are not on your edge.

If you are way overwhelmed,

You are too much on the on the other side of your edge.

You are not in control.

You are not feeling balanced.

OK,

So the edge is that situation that feels a little bit scared.

Scary,

But exciting at the same time.

The situation that feels scary.

But you feel safe enough to step forward.

OK,

That's the edge.

If you start approaching that edge,

That edge is going to get bigger and bigger as you as you do it.

OK,

This is,

For example,

And to finish an example about this with my daughter when she was learning how to sleep.

OK,

Babies don't know how to sleep.

Babies have been in the wound for like 10 months,

Completely attached to their mom.

They come out into a world that is scary.

It's cold.

It's whatever.

And they are uncomfortable.

They are not feeling safe.

They want to sleep,

But they don't know how to sleep alone.

OK,

So the way how we teach our daughter how to sleep is expose her to being alone in a room in very small doses.

So we will expose her for a little,

A few one to two minutes and she will just bawl and cry because she was exposed to something new and different.

But then we will go there and we'll say,

Don't worry Eva,

We are here.

We will touch her head.

We will sing her a song and then we will leave the room and then let her be alone for a minute or two.

She was bawling and crying because she was afraid.

But then we will go inside right away after two minutes max,

Two minutes.

What do you think happened?

She started to recognize I am safe.

My dad can when I cry after two minutes.

If I don't cry for three or four minutes,

They are going to come anyways.

They are taking on me.

I am safe.

We repeated that over a month.

And then now she sleeps 12 hours every night.

She loves sleeping.

She loves being alone and she feels comfortable.

But we couldn't do that right away.

It was too much for her to understand.

So we did it in very small doses.

So you have to take a same approach.

OK?

You have to take a similar approach with yourself.

Find your edge and push yourself to that edge as much as you can,

As much as you want.

OK?

And remember that habits always need to be created from a place of intention.

It is your choice to decide to change something,

To decide to create something new or to decide to let go.

To decide to discover how to be able to let go of something that you no longer want in your life.

OK?

Always remember that.

Don't do anything because someone told you.

It has to come from between you,

From inside of you.

You have to be the one inspired.

OK?

And then from that place,

You decide what you want to do.

OK?

So guys,

That was today's talk.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for being here.

I hope that you guys can take something home.

You can take something really practical,

Really helpful,

Simple,

Convenient that you will start implementing from now.

OK?

Just pick one thing,

Just one thing and start doing it.

So select one habit stacking technique and then with intention think,

What do I want to see in my life?

The next week or two.

And create that habit stacking technique for yourself.

Brainstorm about what is the best habit stacking technique for you.

Add playfulness to it.

Add fun to it.

OK?

Make it fun.

Make it,

Share it with the people you love.

Make it something a big deal and celebrate every time you do it.

Even if it's a second.

I meditate for one second.

Yeah,

I close my eyes for one second.

Yeah!

Guys,

Celebrate the hell out of every little accomplishment that you do.

And then repeat it,

Repeat it,

Repeat it,

Repeat it,

Repeat it.

OK?

As many times as you can.

And then you will form a new habit very quickly.

And you will enjoy so much that it will prolong in time.

OK?

So I hope that that was amazing to you.

Thank you so much for all your comments guys.

I love seeing you.

I love your energy.

Thank you for listening and I will see you next week.

I don't have anything scheduled yet but I will brainstorm ideas.

Any topics,

Ideas that you guys would like to see next week?

Just share in the comments if you have a specific topic idea for next week.

Meal planning.

Self love.

Anxiety management.

OK.

So I have three topics.

Amazing.

Meal planning,

Self love,

Anxiety management,

Manage paper clutter.

Getting back to a topic went too vague.

Brain,

Self love,

Managing lifestyle during COVID,

Pain management,

Repeat.

OK.

OK.

That's enough.

Digital clutter.

OK.

That's the last one.

Thank you guys so much.

I will put something together.

I will see you next week.

OK?

Have an amazing rest of your day.

And then again,

Let's transition with intention,

Please.

Close your eyes and allow yourself time for two deep breaths with me.

OK?

Come on,

Let's do it.

One.

And another one.

OK.

And just whatever you are about to do next,

Just be intentional about it.

Let's transition with intention.

OK?

Have a wonderful rest of your day,

Guys.

I will see you all next week.

Adios.