Habit Stacking & Temptation Bundling: Your Secret Weapons for 2025 Goals [Ep 44]

In this episode, Lisa dives into how rethinking traditional New Year’s resolutions and embracing your natural tendencies can unlock your most successful year yet. With decades of experience behind you, your mature brain is more adaptable than you might think. Discover how two game-changing strategies, temptation bundling and habit stacking, can help you turn your goals into reality without needing to completely overhauling your routine.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why Traditional Goal-Setting Often Fails
• The Adaptability of the Mature Brain
• What is Temptation Bundling?
• What is Habit Stacking?
• Personal Example: Lisa’s 2025 Goal

Ready to Take the Next Step?
If you're feeling inspired but wondering how to apply these strategies to your life, let’s talk! This is your last chance to get my 1:1 coaching at this year’s prices—book your free strategy session before January 30th to lock it in. During our session, we’ll explore your goals, challenges, and how to create a personalized plan that works for you. Schedule your call today at LisaDupreeCoaching.com/getcoached

Free Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
1) Start your new year energized and empowered! Join my free 5-day Midlife Mojo Jumpstart mini-course to create a health and fitness plan that fits your lifestyle. Over five days, you’ll receive actionable tips to improve your nutrition, exercise, and recovery—all tailored to the unique needs of midlife.

💻 Sign up now at LisaDupreeCoaching.com/jumpstart

2) The Why and How of Setting Goals [Ep 5]

3) Free Goal Setting Worksheet

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend or leave a review—it helps the show reach more women ready to prioritize their health and feel lean, strong, and confident over 50.

Thanks for listening!

🎉 More Free Resources 🎉

Jumpstart Checklist - Download the checklist and jumpstart your journey to a fitter, stronger, more confident and happier you. Get it here!

Midlife Mojo Jumpstart mini-course to create a health and fitness plan that fits your lifestyle. Over five days, you’ll receive actionable tips to improve your nutrition, exercise, and recovery—all tailored to the unique needs of midlife.

To help you set positive, motivating goals you are excited about, get this free Goal Setting for Success Worksheet.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Lisa DuPree: Hello, hello. Welcome back. And if you're listening for the first time, welcome. So glad you're here. I'm Lisa. And today we're talking about why rethinking how we approach our New Year's resolutions and goals in general might be exactly what we need to make our 2025 our most successful year yet.

[00:00:21] First, let's acknowledge something really powerful that's going to work in our favor, and that is our age, because we've got decades of life experience. We know who we are. We've built careers, raised families, navigated countless challenges, but sometimes, sometimes this wealth of experience can actually make it harder to reach our goals.

[00:00:46] Why? Because we've got well worn patterns that have served us for years, or habits and routines that served us well in the past, but they're not really aligned with where our goals are now, but they're comfortable, They're entrenched in our daily routine, but here's what's really fascinating about our brains, and especially our mature brains.

[00:01:16] They're still incredibly adaptable. Science has shown us that It's that we can build new neural pathways at any age. And the key isn't just setting big inspiring goals, although that is a great way to start. It's really to get to those goals. It's understanding how to work with your brain's natural tendencies.

[00:01:38] So today I want to get into two powerful concepts that can revolutionize how you approach your goals to get the outcomes that you desire. They're called temptation bundling and habit stacking. And also we're going to dive into why these approaches are particularly powerful for women over 50 who want to be their fittest and flourish during menopause.

[00:02:01] So picture this, you've got a lifetime of proven routines that work for you in one way or the other and they're comfortable in many ways. Every day you probably have your coffee or your tea the same way. You likely have some sort of routine for starting your work day, like checking your email or reviewing your calendar first thing.

[00:02:23] In the evening you might have a habit of prepping dinner while enjoying a glass of wine, maybe you unwind every evening by catching up on your favorite TV shows or scrolling through social media before bed. Instead of fighting these ingrained patterns, what if we could use them as launching pads for changes that we want to make?

[00:02:45] That's why understanding these concepts is crucial as we wrap up this year. It's not about making these big sweeping dramatic changes or forcing ourselves through willpower into uncomfortable new routines. It's about working with our natural tendencies, our existing habits, and yes, even our guilty pleasures to create sustainable change.

[00:03:08] While both temptation bundling and habit stacking are effective behavior change strategies, they work through different mechanisms. First, let's get into temptation bundling.

[00:03:19] This concept was coined by Katherine Milkman, a behavioral scientist and professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She introduced this idea in her research as a way to pair a behavior you want to do, but resist, with something that you enjoy and find tempting to do. So think about it like this, we all have things we love to do and things we need to do.

[00:03:45] Temptation bundling is about understanding how these can work together instead of competing for our time and attention. So it really leverages the motivational pull of enjoyable activities to make necessary but less appealing tasks more attractive, following an only while pattern, for example, only reading your new favorite book while riding the stationary bike. And it's particularly interesting when we think about what motivates us at this stage of life.

[00:04:16] The second concept is habit stacking. And this was popularized by James Clear in his book, Atomic Habits. He credits this idea to the broader principle of implementation intentions, which is a psychological framework.

[00:04:32] Habit stacking involves attaching a new habit to an existing one, using the established habit as a cue for the new behavior. We've developed plenty of solid routines. These routines are like well worn paths in our brain, and so instead of trying to bulldoze new paths, which is what traditional New Year's resolutions often ask us to do, habit stacking, shows us why working with these existing paths can be more effective.

[00:05:01] Habit stacking leverages your brain's existing neural pathways by attaching a new habit to an established one and essentially creating a sequential pattern of after I do X, I will do Y. And what's really fascinating about these concepts is how they align with what we know about our brain's limbic system.

[00:05:23] So I talk more about this, knowing your big reason why, and setting SMART goals in episode 5, the why and how of goal setting. And just like knowing your why connects to your emotional brain to enhance motivation, habit stacking, and temptation bundling tap into your brain's natural tendencies instead of fighting against them.

[00:05:46] So let me give you an example of why this matters. How many times have you set a goal to exercise more, eat better, maybe lose a few pounds? And then how many times has life just gotten in the way and that goal seems to just fall by the wayside? So that's a lot of times because we're trying to force new behaviors without considering and working with our existing routines and preferences.

[00:06:14] I like to think of it as adding a new ingredient to a recipe without ever having tasted the dish first, you know, without understanding what flavors and textures are already existing and already in play, you run the risk of adding something to your dish that doesn't blend well or just simply doesn't work.

[00:06:33] So I want to share with you a personal example of why these concepts are so powerful. My big personal goal for this coming year is to compete in a physique competition. I'm thinking probably in the bikini category. Now that is a stretch goal for me. It's going to challenge me mentally, physically, emotionally, maybe even socially.

[00:06:56] I've wanted to do this for a couple of years and have finally decided to get serious and I've committed to go for it and be stage ready for one, maybe two shows this year. And here's why understanding these concepts matter. This isn't just about the outcome of stepping confidently on stage in a bedazzled bikini and proving that women over 50 are strong, beautiful, and accomplish anything that they want to regardless of their age.

[00:07:26] Although, that is super important to me. Being able to step onto that stage, it's about all the daily actions and habits that need to be in place to make that goal a reality. So when we talk about temptation bundling and habit stacking, and I'm not just sharing theory, I'm actually living this right now.  Because for body recomposition, which is what's needed for competition prep, I absolutely have to integrate new habits and routine into my already busy life.

[00:07:54] Things have to change and be different from my normal eating and exercise routines. Because you have to look a certain way to be competitive. And we're talking about specific nutrition requirements, meal timing, precise workout schedules, and trying new recovery practices, because I'm going to be stressing my body out in different ways.

[00:08:14] And so instead of trying to force all these new behaviors through sheer willpower, I'm looking at my existing routines. My habits, the things that I already enjoy doing, and strategically, I'm using these concepts to make the changes easier and more sustainable. This way, I'm setting myself up for success, not just for competition day, but for the entire process that leads up to it.

[00:08:40] And this is exactly why I'm so passionate about sharing these strategies with you. Whether your goal is as specific as a fitness competition, or something entirely different that you want to do this year, or have more of in your life going forward, understanding how to work with your brain's natural tendencies, rather than against them, can be the difference between another abandoned resolution, and real, meaningful, lasting change.

[00:09:07] And then let's think about how this connects to goal setting, because it's that time of year. When I work with clients, I help them dial in their goals by making them specific, measurable, meaning it's something that they can quantify and they can tell if they're going in the right direction, something that is attainable.

[00:09:26] So you don't want it to be too easy, but you don't want it to be too hard. So maybe it’s a stretch but it's attainable and you want it to be really relevant. and have a benefit, getting something out of it now as well as in the long-term, and it's super important. And then it has to be time bound.

[00:09:42] with an end date and really that's laying the foundation. These concepts that we're discussing today, temptation bundling, and habit stacking, they're the blueprint for actually building onto that foundation.

[00:09:57] So now you may be thinking, okay, this all sounds great, but how am I going to make this work for me? And that is exactly why I've created my coaching program, because understanding these concepts is just the first step. The real magic happens when you learn how to apply them to your specific situation and goals.

[00:10:16] And just like with our goal setting work, It's just not enough to know what the strategies are. You need to personalize them to your life, your routines, your desires. And that's where my coaching program comes in because we take a deep dive into really building a solid foundation and then using So if you're ready to take the next step and see how these strategies can transform your life, now is the perfect time because this is your last chance to get my one on one coaching at this year's prices, but you must book your free call before January 30th. Get in my schedule before January 30th to be able to lock in the 2024 pricing. 

[00:11:10] Head to LisaDupreeCoaching.com/getcoached to schedule your call to date and we'll talk about your goals, your challenges, and how we can work together to create a personalized plan that really gets you results. And if one on one coaching isn't a right fit for you at the moment, don't worry.

[00:11:28] I've got some amazing free resources to help you get started. I've put links to a free goal setting worksheet. And a free five day jumpstart mini course in the show notes. So these tools are designed to help you start thinking about how to incorporate these ideas into your health and fitness goals for the next year.

[00:11:46] Thank you so much for listening and being part of the Midlife Mojo community. If you've enjoyed the show, please take a moment to leave a five star rating and a positive review so the podcast can reach even more women who want to be fit over 50 and flourish in midlife. And until next time, get out there and keep your mojo rising!