Habit stacking: how to use it, with 20 examples

Habit stacking means attaching a new habit to one you already do every day, using one sentence: "After I [current habit], I will [new habit]." The habit you already have becomes the cue, so there is nothing new to remember. It works because of what psychologists call implementation intentions — plans in a "when X, I will Y" shape — which people follow through on noticeably more often than plain goals. Below: how to pick an anchor, and 20 examples.

Most of what you do in a day happens without a decision. You don't choose to brush your teeth, put the kettle on or check your phone when you sit down — they just happen, in roughly the same order, every day. Habit stacking uses that. Instead of trying to remember a new habit, you attach it to one of those moments, and the old habit does the remembering for you.

What habit stacking is

Habit stacking is linking a new habit to a habit you already have, so one follows the other. The existing habit is the anchor; the new one rides on it.

The name was popularised by S.J. Scott's book Habit Stacking and by James Clear's Atomic Habits. The idea underneath is older. The psychologist Peter Gollwitzer spent years studying what he called implementation intentions — plans written as "when this happens, I will do that" (Gollwitzer, 1999) — and found that people who make a plan in that shape follow through noticeably more often than people who only set a goal. A later review of 94 studies found the effect was consistent and sizeable (Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006). Habit stacking is an implementation intention where the "when" is something you already do.

The formula

Every stack is one sentence:

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

Three things make the sentence work:

• The anchor is specific. "After breakfast" is vague; "after I put my breakfast bowl in the sink" is a moment you can't miss.
• The new habit is small. It should take a minute or two at first. The anchor gets you started; it can't carry something that takes an hour.
• The two sit close together in time and place. If the anchor happens in the kitchen and the new habit needs you at a desk upstairs, the link breaks on the stairs.

Write the sentence down. A plan in your head is a wish; a plan on paper — or in your habit tracker as the habit's name — is a commitment you'll see every day.

How to pick a good anchor

The anchor matters more than the new habit. A good one is:

1. Daily, or as often as the new habit. If you want to stretch every day, don't anchor it to the gym, which you go to three times a week.
2. Fixed. It happens whatever your mood or schedule. Waking up, the first coffee, sitting down to work, lunch, getting home, brushing your teeth at night.
3. Already automatic. If you have to remember the anchor, you now have two habits to remember.
4. Well matched. Match the energy and the setting. Reading fits after getting into bed; push-ups don't.

A quick way to find anchors: list everything you do, in order, on a normal weekday. Then list the things that happen to you every day — the alarm going off, the kettle boiling, a meeting ending, the train pulling out. Both lists are full of anchors.

20 habit stacking examples

Morning

• After I turn off my alarm, I will sit up and drink the glass of water on my bedside table.
• After I put the kettle on, I will do ten squats while it boils.
• After I pour my first coffee, I will write one line in my journal.
• After I brush my teeth, I will take my vitamins.
• After I get out of the shower, I will make the bed.
• After I sit down to breakfast, I will write down the one thing that has to happen today.

At work or study

• After I sit down at my desk, I will drink a glass of water.
• After I open my laptop, I will close every tab I don't need before opening email.
• After every meeting ends, I will stand up and stretch for one minute.
• After I finish lunch, I will go for a ten-minute walk.
• After I shut my laptop for the day, I will write tomorrow's first task on a sticky note.

Evening

• After I get home and put my keys down, I will change into my workout clothes.
• After I finish dinner, I will tidy the kitchen for ten minutes.
• After I load the dishwasher, I will call or message someone in my family.
• After I plug my phone in to charge — outside the bedroom — I will pick up my book.
• After I get into bed, I will read one page.
• After I turn off the light, I will think of three things I'm grateful for.

Weekly

• After Sunday breakfast, I will plan the week ahead.
• After I get paid, I will move money into savings.
• After I do the weekly food shop, I will prepare lunches for Monday and Tuesday.

Treat these as starting points. The best stack is built from your own day, not someone else's.

Chaining stacks together

Once a stack runs by itself — usually after a few weeks — the new habit can become the anchor for the next one. A morning can grow into a chain:

After I pour my coffee, I will write one line in my journal. After I write in my journal, I will read my plan for the day. After I read my plan, I will start on the first task.

Add links one at a time, and only when the last one is automatic. A long chain built in a week tends to fall apart as a whole the first time you oversleep.

Common mistakes

• An anchor that isn't really a habit. "After I go to the gym" doesn't work if you go to the gym twice a month.
• A vague anchor. "In the morning" is a time, not a moment. The moment is what triggers you.
• Stacking too much at once. Three new habits on one anchor feels efficient and usually means all three stop together.
• A new habit that's too big. "After dinner, I will do an hour of Spanish" asks the anchor to do too much. Start with five minutes — or one lesson. The guide to building a habit covers sizing in more detail.
• A bad fit. If the anchor happens somewhere the new habit can't, change one of them. Keep your running shoes by the door, not in the wardrobe.
• Giving up after one missed day. A stack that breaks once isn't broken. Pick it up at the next anchor.

Tracking a habit stack

Track the new habit, not the anchor. You'll brush your teeth either way; what you want to see is whether the thing you attached to it is happening.

A simple trick is to write the stack into the habit's name — "After coffee: journal one line" — so every time you look at your tracker, you see the plan and not just the goal. Tick it off the moment you've done it, while you're still at the anchor; that tick is part of the routine too.

After two or three weeks, look at the record. A habit that's ticked most days is working. One with gaps on the same weekdays tells you the anchor doesn't happen on those days — maybe your Tuesday mornings are different — and you need a second anchor for them. A habit that's barely ticked at all usually needs a smaller version or a better-fitting anchor, not more willpower.

If you want somewhere to keep that record, the free habit tracker on Crek works in any browser with no signup. Or, if paper suits you better, use a printable habit tracker and stick it next to the anchor itself — on the fridge, by the kettle, on the bathroom mirror.

Start with one stack

1. Write down five things you already do every day without fail.
2. Pick the one that fits the habit you want best — same time, same place, same energy.
3. Write the sentence: After I ___, I will ___.
4. Make the new habit so small it takes under two minutes.
5. Do it the next time the anchor happens, and tick it off.

One stack, done every day, beats a perfect morning routine you keep for a week.