Intrivo’s CEO shares the habit-forming framework used to train our AI coach in helping people achieve their health and well-being goals, and keeping them for the long-term

In a recent interview with Business Insider, Intrivo CEO, Ron Gutman sat down to discuss his habit-creation framework that helps him keep habits up 365 days a year:

What's the secret to making a habit stick? One tech entrepreneur shared his "stoke, stage, stack" framework that turns goals into long-lasting habits.

Ron Gutman is a technology and healthcare entrepreneur and the cofounder of digital health company Intrivo, which invented the On/Go COVID-19 rapid at-home test used by millions of people in the US. Gutman is also an adjunct professor at Stanford University.

Gutman spoke to Business Insider about what it takes to succeed in the habit-creation process. He explained that a mistake most people make is immediately jumping into a habit without doing any preparation or planning.

Instead, he suggests a three-step habit cycle, which includes stoking, staging, and stacking.

Stoke

You might be tempted to set ambitious or wide-reaching goals because you think it looks impressive to others, but it's unlikely to stick if you're not passionate about the goals.

Gutman said: "The first thing is you need to get excited. If you want to create a habit, you need to be fired up about it. You need to be motivated. I need to be really stoked about it."

Having the right mindset in the beginning is key, he said.

That sense of excitement and passion is what will drive you to stick with the habit, as it will naturally be more fulfilling and rewarding.

Stage

An important factor in the habit-creation cycle is optimizing your environment and making sure you have everything you need to get started.

You'll constantly run into obstacles if you don't have the tools or the right environment to carry out your habit.

"I run every morning, no fail, 365 days a year," Gutman said adding that he runs on the beach or in the park. "Why am I doing this? First of all, I have shoes I really like. If I didn't have the proper running shoes, I would very quickly hurt myself. I would stop. "

He said he runs on the beach because it's soft or on grass in the park because asphalt can be hard on the knees.

"So I try to stage the environment in a way that will keep it sustainable. Figuring out how to position myself, having the right kind of water before that, and having the right kind of clothes."

If he's traveling to a different climate, he brings running gear so he can't give up the habit.

"I spend a lot of time in advance stoking and staging because the staging will become an excuse like 'Oh, it's cold outside, it's raining. Well, maybe today I'm not going to work out because it's snowing outside.' No, if I go to a place that's snowing, I'm going to bring running gear for the snow."

Stack

The final step is stacking on the habit to an existing one, dramatically increasing the likelihood of keeping it up.

This is more commonly known as "habit stacking" and was mentioned in James Clear's 2018 book "Atomic Habits." When you want to change, you can add a new habit to an old one to make it easier to complete. Clear credited the concept to BJ Fogg's "Tiny Habits" program.

It works because "you already have a cycle that is happening there and you associate it with that thing" Gutman said.

"This is what BJ Fogg used to call a trigger. When I wake up in the morning, there's nothing between me getting out of bed and wearing my running shoes, getting water, and going for a run. Nothing like zero.

"The act of getting out of bed prompts me to put on the shoes, drink water, and go for a run. There's nothing in between the two and it's always coupled."

Gutman gave the example of brushing your teeth as a habit that most people have stacked onto another habit since they were children.

"Brushing teeth is something that almost everybody's doing, no fail, because it's associated with your morning and evening routine. You wake up in the morning, brush your teeth, and when you go to bed, you brush your teeth.

"You're stacking. Your parents taught you to stack this habit into two things that will happen every day, so it's associated with your morning routine of waking up and going to sleep at night."