Habits
Habit stacking
Habit stacking means doing a new habit right after something you already do every day. You write it as one sentence: “After I pour my morning coffee, I will read one page of a book.” The coffee happens anyway, so it reminds you to read.
Last updated
Reviewed by Mohammed Raqeeb
The formula
What is the habit stacking formula?
The habit stacking formula is one sentence with two blanks for you to fill in.
The sentence to fill in
After I [something I already do], I will [my new habit].
The first blank is something you do every day without thinking about it, like brushing your teeth. People call it the anchor. The second blank is the new habit, and it should be small.
Here is how the sentence helps. Leo wants to stretch every day. He tells himself he will do it “sometime in the evening”, and most evenings he forgets. So he writes a sentence: “After I brush my teeth at night, I will stretch for one minute.”
Leo brushes his teeth every night anyway. Now brushing his teeth is his reminder, and he needs no alarm.
Examples
Habit stacking examples
Habit stacking examples all have the same two parts: something you already do, and one small new thing right after it. Here are 10 to copy or change.
| After I… | I will… |
|---|---|
| Morning | |
| pour my morning coffee | read one page of a book |
| brush my teeth in the morning | do ten squats |
| make my bed | stretch for one minute |
| Daytime | |
| sit down at my desk | write down the one task I must finish today |
| finish my lunch | walk around the block |
| sit down on the train home | study Spanish words for five minutes |
| Evening | |
| hang up my coat at home | fill my water bottle for tomorrow |
| put my plate in the sink | pack tomorrow’s lunch |
| brush my teeth at night | floss |
| get into bed | write three lines about my day |
Change the words to fit your own day. For more small habits to put in the second column, see the list of good habits.
Try it
Write your own habit stack
The builder below writes the sentence for you. Type or pick something you already do every day, and then a small new habit. You can stack up to three habits and copy them.
Type your own, or pick one below.
Type your own, or pick one below.
Your sentence
After I pour my morning coffee, I will read one page of a book.
The next habit comes right after the one you just wrote.
Your sentences are not saved. Copy them before you close this page. Nothing you enter leaves this page.
How to do it
How to start habit stacking
To start habit stacking, pick one anchor and one small habit, and do them together every day. Four things help.
- Pick an anchor you never skip. Think of what you do every day: shower, make coffee, lock the door, eat lunch, plug in your phone. A habit for every day needs an anchor that happens every day, so “after my Monday meeting” does not work. “In the evening” does not work either, because nothing in an evening tells you that now is the time.
- Make the new habit very small. Start with an amount you would still do on a tired day: one page, one minute, ten squats.
- Do it the moment the anchor ends. Put the new habit after the anchor, not before it, and leave no gap. If you check your phone in between, the reminder is gone.
- Add a second habit only when the first one runs by itself. Then the first new habit becomes the anchor for the next one: “After I read one page, I will write down one thing to finish today.” That chain is the stack.
The page on habit formation covers the rest of how a habit is built.
What studies found
Why does habit stacking work?
Habit stacking works because the thing you already do reminds you, at the right moment, to do the new thing. No study has tested it under that name, but researchers have tested its parts.
A plan that names the moment gets done more often.
Researchers call a plan like “when this happens, I will do that” an if-then plan. One review put together many tests of such plans. On average, people who made one did better at reaching their goal than people who only had the goal (Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006).
Something you already do works as well as a clock time.
In one study, adults each picked a small new habit, like drinking a glass of water. Half tied it to something in their day, such as “after breakfast”. The other half tied it to a clock time, such as 9 AM. Over twelve weeks the habit came to feel more automatic in both groups, and neither group did better (Keller and colleagues, 2021).
So an anchor is not better than a clock time. You just do not need an alarm for it.
A new habit takes weeks or months to run by itself.
In another study, people did one small thing every day after the same moment. The person in the middle of the group needed 66 days before it happened without much thought (Lally and colleagues, 2010). There is more on how long it takes to form a habit.
Where it comes from
Who came up with habit stacking?
Habit stacking got its name from a book of that title (S.J. Scott, 2014). James Clear made the formula widely known in his book Atomic Habits. On his own site, Clear says the word came from Scott’s book and the method from BJ Fogg, who calls the thing you already do an anchor.
The test
How do you know your habit stack is working?
The test
The new habit happened right after its anchor on at least six days of the week
for four weeks in a row.
A habit stack feels like it is working on the days you remember it. The days you skipped the new habit are easy to forget.
A good way to check is to count the days and the minutes from what you write or say about your day. Most journaling apps only ask how your day felt. They do not show on how many days the new habit really happened.
One app built for this is Think in Numbers, a smart journaling app with time tracking built in.
You write or say your day in your own words, as it happens or all at once. The app reads what you wrote and counts the hours that went to each part of it: your new habit, work, sleep, your phone, and the time you never mentioned (shown as unaccounted). Then it shows those hours over days and weeks. So you can see on how many days your new habit happened, and how many minutes it got each week. Add the new habit with its anchor, such as stretching after coffee. When what you write about your day shows you did it, the app ticks it off and the streak goes on.
1. You write your day
2. It counts the hours
- Stretching0m
- Work0m
- Sleep0m
- Unaccounted24h
3. It shows your week
Stretching this week: 0m
On 6 of 7 days. The gap is the day without it.
An example day and week.
For iPhone and Android. Try it on your own day before you pay.
Sources
Where do the findings on this page come from?
Every finding on this page links to a source below. We read each one for this page, the whole text or its summary. The examples are our own.
- Gollwitzer, P. M. and Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69 to 119.
- Keller, J., Kwasnicka, D., Klaiber, P., Sichert, L., Lally, P. and Fleig, L. (2021). Habit formation following routine-based versus time-based cue planning: A randomized controlled trial. British Journal of Health Psychology, 26(3), 807 to 824.
- Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C. H. M., Potts, H. W. W. and Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998 to 1009.
- Scott, S. J. (2014). Habit Stacking: 97 Small Life Changes That Take Five Minutes or Less. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; the book's record at Open Library.
- James Clear (jamesclear.com) (read ). Habit Stacking: How to Build New Habits by Taking Advantage of Old Ones.
Keep reading.
- LearnAnswers about sleep, habits, study, people and work, in hours.
- Good habitsA list of daily habits in six groups, each written with a time or an amount so you can check it, and how to pick one and start.
- Habit formationWhat a habit is, how one forms, and the habit loop checked against the research.
- How long to form a habit66 days on average, and how to tell when yours has formed.
- Where did my week go? calculatorEnter a typical day and see your week accounted and unaccounted.
- Time journalingThe method: write or say your day in your own words, then see it as hours.
Questions
Questions people ask.
What is habit stacking?
Habit stacking means doing a new habit right after something you already do every day. You write it as one sentence: “After I pour my morning coffee, I will read one page of a book.” The coffee happens anyway, so it reminds you to read.
What is an example of habit stacking?
One example of habit stacking is to floss right after you brush your teeth at night. Another is to read one page of a book right after you pour your morning coffee.
How many habits can you stack?
Start with one. When it happens without a reminder, add a second habit right after it. Three in a row is plenty to begin with.
How long does habit stacking take to work?
You can use the reminder from the first day. The new habit takes longer to run by itself. In one study of small daily habits, the person in the middle of the group needed 66 days.
What app can I use to keep track of a habit stack?
A paper calendar is enough: put a tick on each day the new habit happened. If you want an app, look for one that shows on how many days the habit happened. One app built for this is Think in Numbers, a smart journaling app with time tracking built in. Think in Numbers has habits with streaks and reminders, and counts the minutes each habit got from what you write or say about your day. It ticks a habit off when what you write about your day shows it happened.
Try it on my day.
Write today down in your own words, and see where the hours went.
For iPhone and Android. Try it on your own day before you pay.