From Faith Gateway
Have you ever found yourself struggling to meet your spiritual new year's resolutions? What if we told you that resolutions don’t work, but better habits do?
I recently started listening to the audiobook Atomic Habits by James Clear after it was mentioned by my pastor in a sermon, and while it’s not a Christian book, his recommendations on building better habits have become very popular among people of faith who are working on spiritual disciplines— because they actually work!
One of his best pieces of advice is on building habits on top of other habits that are already a part of your everyday life and routines.
"Find a habit you already do each day and then stack your new behavior on top of it," Clear writes. "In other words, your current habit becomes the trigger for your new one."
The habit stacking formula is simply this:
After/Before [CURRENT HABIT],
I will [NEW HABIT].
For example:
After I pour my cup of coffee each morning, I will pray for one minute.
- or -
Before my feet hit the floor in the morning, I will read a chapter of the Bible
When you pair an action you want to do with an action you already have as a daily habit, it becomes easier to change your behavior.
Join Habit Stacker groups at Faith Gateway.
I recently started listening to the audiobook Atomic Habits by James Clear after it was mentioned by my pastor in a sermon, and while it’s not a Christian book, his recommendations on building better habits have become very popular among people of faith who are working on spiritual disciplines— because they actually work!
One of his best pieces of advice is on building habits on top of other habits that are already a part of your everyday life and routines.
"Find a habit you already do each day and then stack your new behavior on top of it," Clear writes. "In other words, your current habit becomes the trigger for your new one."
The habit stacking formula is simply this:
After/Before [CURRENT HABIT],
I will [NEW HABIT].
For example:
After I pour my cup of coffee each morning, I will pray for one minute.
- or -
Before my feet hit the floor in the morning, I will read a chapter of the Bible
When you pair an action you want to do with an action you already have as a daily habit, it becomes easier to change your behavior.
Join Habit Stacker groups at Faith Gateway.