Why habit-stacking will stop you procrastinating...

I recently saw an article which said 'you don't always need to be productive' and I hard-disagree. As much as you should definitely be living life, occasionally indulging in a takeaway or a lie-in, I just think those things no longer become 'special' or enjoyable when it becomes an everyday thing. Unfortunately for everyone, delayed gratification is very real and very worth it, let me tell you why.

So what has this got to do with habit-stacking and procrastination? Well.... everything! When you are habit-stacking (doing multiple tasks at once) it stops you from procrastinating and delaying those tasks as you complete them within a short space of time. This means when you actually complete the tasks that you had planned for yourself, you begin to feel more accomplished and overall, you will look forward to the fun things you actually have planned.

Below are tips and tricks I have picked up along the way with habit tracking, and as someone who used to be guilty of procrastinating trust me when I say that these work!

1. Walk and listen

Whilst I do love listening to music when I go for my daily walk, I feel it is a much better use of my time listening to an interesting and informative podcast. I would avoid listening to something with 'entertainment value' as trying to expand my knowledge and actually challenge myself with learning something new is one of my long-term goals.

I also feel that when I am walking I am taking in information better, something about the repetitive movement really helps embed things into my brain! Your selected podcast can be about anything, but I would advise it is about something educational and and that you feel is worthwhile e.g. current affairs, self-development, or something related to your field/education. Oh and I also get my dog's daily walk out of the way so this one walk has completed my steps/knowledge action/pet's exercise for the day!

2. Low-impact exercise and self care

I've recently been overcoming and healing from an injury/illness so this year hasn't started the best for me fitness-wise, and I haven't been able to get into the gym as much as I would have like to, so low-impact home exercises has been ideal for me. Whilst I am doing pilates/yoga I will incorporate a hair mask or face mask to ensure I am maximising my time with improving my fitness whilst doing something which makes me feel good. With this action I have completed 2 of my goals for the day, which is body movement and doing something which makes me feel good, and as majority of us work full time, learning to make our free time more efficient will improve your overall life so much more (I promise).

3. Yap and clean

It's really important for me to keep in touch with close friends/family and I really dislike messaging and am more a phone call/facetime type of girl, so sometimes a quick call to a loved one whilst doing household chores such as cleaning/ironing can sometimes be the push needed to complete those chores. I personally enjoy my daily clean as having a tidy environment is very important to me, however I definitely understand that not everyone can find the motivation to do this. My advice would be to call your bestie, have a gossip sesh and the next hour cleaning will fly by!

4. Gym and read

At the end of a weights session, I love to do some cardio. And sometimes when the weather is rough I will even go to the gym for a 30 min treadmill walk, and instead of putting on Netflix or listening to music I would really recommend bringing your current book. Sometimes reading is really the longest thing ever and I can take a few weeks to finish one book, so I saw a girl on Tiktok say she brings her book to the gym and I was like, why have I not thought about this before?! The time goes by very quickly, I have completed my 10 (or 20 pages) for the day and it's just a nice way to exercise your mind and your body!

That summarises my habit-stacking examples, this has really changed the game for me productivity-wise and I feel that I am benefitting so much more from my free-time instead of doom-scrolling and bed-rotting.

Life is truly better when you are optimising your entire day and your future self will thank you for it, I promise!

Hope you enjoyed and speak to you tomorrow!

Argita xo