Guides: routines, daily planning and remembering things
Habit stacking: how to attach new habits to the ones you already have
Habit stacking is a simple idea: instead of trying to remember a new habit on its own, you attach it to something you already do every day. "After I pour my coffee, I take my vitamin." The existing habit becomes the cue. It works because the hardest part of any habit is remembering it at the right moment, and your current routine already has those moments built in.
Pick anchors that never fail
A good anchor happens every day, at roughly the same time, without effort: making coffee, brushing teeth, sitting down at your desk, arriving home. Avoid anchors that vary, like "after the gym" when you go twice a week. List five anchors from your ordinary day before choosing any new habit.
Make the new habit tiny
The new action should take under two minutes at first: one glass of water, one page, one push-up, one line in a journal. Tiny habits survive tired days, and once the stack is automatic you can grow them. Starting with "read 30 pages" is how the stack breaks in week one.
Write the stack as a sentence
Use the formula "after [anchor], I will [new habit]". Writing it forces precision: "after I sit down at my desk, I write my three priorities" is actionable; "be more organised" is not. Keep the sentences where you will see them.
Add a timed nudge for the first weeks
Anchors work once the habit is established. In the first two or three weeks, a reminder at the time the anchor usually happens bridges the gap. If you make coffee at 7:30, a nudge at 7:30 for the vitamin helps the pair form. When you notice you no longer need it, remove it.
Stack one at a time
Do not build a chain of six new habits on the morning coffee. Add one, wait until it feels automatic, then add the next. A stack that grows slowly lasts; one assembled in a weekend usually falls apart together.
Keep a light record
Marking a habit done each day is motivating and shows patterns. If a stacked habit is skipped every Monday, the anchor is weak that day; move it rather than blaming yourself.
Examples you can copy
After I pour my morning coffee, I take my vitamin. After I sit down at my desk, I write my three priorities for the day. After I get home, I put my keys, wallet and phone charger in the same bowl. After I brush my teeth at night, I read one page. After lunch, I drink a full glass of water. Pick one, try it for two weeks, and only then add the next.
Try it: what you write, what LifeOS does
- “every day at 7:30am vitamin after coffee” → A daily reminder at 7:30, timed with your coffee, until the habit runs on its own.
- “every day at 10pm read one page” → A daily nudge at 22:00 you can mark done, so you see how often it happens.
- “I want to read more” → Saved as a goal in your memory, next to the reminders that serve it.
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