Another Great Way to Push Yourself to Stick to a Habit

You know what you should be doing, but somehow, the habit has fallen out of your routine (or, it never got into your routine!)? This method may work for you.

Sometimes thoughts need to sit in your head until you do anything about it. So, I’m giving you permission to read this article and come back to it in a few years when you’re ready to give it a try. Just like I did.  

Let’s get into it. 

I love to read self-help books. It doesn’t mean I always act on the things I read, but I find them interesting. In one of those books, I once read a recommendation that one should create a morning schedule. And I laughed.

What was funny about it? The book recommended setting time to meditate, exercise, write in a journal…yeah, that was not happening. I was more the jump-out-of-bed-in-a-rush-because-the-bus-is-coming-type of person. 

Then, in 2017, Renee Muller wrote a really nice article about habit tracking. A habit tracker is a simple chart that helps to encourage continuity of a new habit. Read Renee’s story in establishing a new habit here. I thought it was lovely. I actually printed out the download we included on that post and did…nothing about it. 

In 2022,  Esti Waldman wrote about the concept of habit-stacking. Habit-stacking means to connect a new habit to an old habit, i.e. do X when you always do Y. I thought that was brilliant too. But I couldn’t think of how to bring it to my life.

Here, all these years later, I finally figured out a third way to encourage myself to form better habits. 

It started with a major vitamin D deficiency. I first took a prescription vitamin D and set myself an alarm so I remember to take it each day. Then, once that bottle was empty, I promptly forgot vitamin D (even though I was supposed to continue).

A year later, after receiving a stern warning from my doctor, I realized I really needed to make vitamin D my daily thing. And since I’ve become a major list person, I put vitamin D as the first task list on my day-to-day list. 

Even if I didn’t do it first thing in the morning, it sat on my list. Honestly it takes 20 seconds to open the pill bottle and swallow a pill, so I got into the habit of checking it off fast. 

Once that was part of my routine, I realized I should really write Birchas Hashachar on my list. I love crossing it off my list. And then I added Nishmas.

Really, this idea of putting these items on my official to-do list is inspired by the habit-stacking concept. I check my list every morning, and then again midday, and then again at night. Making that list and checking it is really the one thing I do consistently. And so, adding the things I do anyway/ need to do makes sure that I really get it done and it’s one less thing I need to “remember” and keep track of. 

For those curious, I keep my to-do list in my phone’s calendar. Consistent things can get set as daily or weekly repeated tasks. 

One more tip! A friend of mine told me she took upon herself a kabbalah for a zechus of someone to never eat before she says brochos. That way, when the mornings get extra hectic, it’s a reminder to go back to her siddur at the first moment. That sounds like a spiritual way to habit stack! 

Now that I’m feeling like anything I add to my to do list will get crossed off (superwomen feeling!), I think I’m going to add in a daily ten minute walk! Let’s see how that goes!