stop looking for the perfect habit stack.

The right idea isn’t always the one that sounds best.

Most advice on habit stacking at best gives you a list and lets you work out the rest. At worst, it directs you to the one thing you must do if you want to change your life, no room for thinking, no room for opinion. This advice is right, and you need to follow it.

Whether a list, or the solution you’ve been waiting for, they invariably tell you to pick something, attach it to something automatic, hope it holds. It’s rarely that simple. It needs thought and some design. And, what often gets left out is the rule that the new habit goes after the old one, never before.

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after, not before.

‘Before my shower, I’ll do two squats’ sounds reasonable until you notice the shower hasn’t happened yet, so there’s nothing to prompt the squats. Nothing triggers the new habit because the old one hasn’t happened. Every stack should start the same way: after I [existing habit], I will [new habit]. Then the existing habit does the prompting, which is the important step in making the new habit automatic.

morning.

Mornings have the most reliable anchors in most people’s day, boiling the kettle, breakfast (even if eat it when you get to your desk), cleaning your teeth, getting dressed, largely in the same order, largely on autopilot. Reliability is what makes them useful.

Want to drink more water? After you’ve put the kettle on to boil, drink a glass of water. Want to build some upper body strength without a gym session? Do two push ups after you clean your teeth. Want your brain focused before the day gets going? Get dressed, then write down the one thing you need to do that day, and why it matters. The reason stops you writing something that isn’t a real priority.

exercise.

Exercise habits rarely fail at the workout. They fail at the door. If you’re aiming for a class after work and never make it back out, you need a trigger placed where the decision usually fails: gym bag by the door, so walking in means picking it up before you’ve had the chance to sit down. Or run in the mornings if evenings are already spoken for by tiredness. Getting into your running kit can be the trigger for putting your shoes on, but only if the kit itself is visible and ready. If it isn’t, you need a trigger for that too, cleaning your teeth, then laying out your kit, for instance.

evening.

Evening anchors get less credit than morning ones, but they’re just as reliable, getting home from work, dinner, dishes, brushing your teeth. They all happen in some way whether you consciously decide to do it or not. Which means anything you attach to it inherits the same reliability.

getting focused.

Opening your laptop, or switching on your computer, happens every time you sit down to work, which makes it one of the strongest triggers you have. Start with closing your laptop every time you stand up to step away from your desk. Then opening it becomes the cue, every single time you’re back at your desk, no decision required.

what derails your habit.

It’s almost always one of two things, sometimes both. Time, and memory. Time isn’t solved by finding more of it, it’s solved by picking something small enough that skipping it takes more effort than doing it. Memory isn’t solved by trying harder to remember, it’s solved by making the habit visible at the moment when you’ll need it. Running shoes in a cupboard don’t remind anyone of anything.

If a stack you’ve built has fallen apart before, the anchor was probably never the real issue. What’s usually missing is a reason specific enough to maintain the habit once it stops being new.

Book a free introductory call if you want help working out which one that is.

I’m Fiona, a habit coach and the founder of The Habit Hacker. I work with people who know what they want but can’t make themselves do it. Together we build habits that are unique to you and your life. My 90-day programme, Brick by Brick, is built on my philosophy that personalised habits change lives. Find out more at thehabithacker.co.uk