Habit stacking: the simplest behaviour design tool

Habit stacking is the formal name for a thing you already do. You brush your teeth after you wake up. You check your phone after you sit down on the train. You stretch after you take off your shoes. The action that comes second has been bolted onto the action that came first.

The recipe

After I [existing habit], I will [new habit].

The trick is the “existing habit” has to be specific and rock-solid. Not “in the morning” — that is too vague. Not “when I have time” — you don’t. It has to be a discrete, daily, automatic moment.

Good anchors

• After I pour my first coffee.
• After I sit down at my desk.
• After I close my laptop at the end of the workday.
• After I get into bed.
• After I brush my teeth.

Bad anchors

• When I feel motivated.
• In the morning sometime.
• After lunch (most people’s lunches don’t happen at a fixed time).
• When I’m in the right headspace.

Stacking, not stacking-on-stacking

You can chain stacks: after I brush my teeth, I take my vitamins; after I take my vitamins, I write one sentence in my journal. Beware: each link has its own failure rate. Two links, fine. Five links, you are building a house of cards.

One stack at a time

Install one new stack per fortnight. Wait until the new habit feels boring — that is the signal it has stuck — before adding the next one. People who try to bolt on five new habits in the same week almost always end up with zero.