With everything going on in the world right now, trying to stay focused can feel like trying to hold your balance on a fence post while everything around you keeps moving like a fair carousel. Our phones ping nonstop, social media feeds are endless and often full of distracting doom and gloom, remote work constantly spills into our precious down time, and we’re more expected than ever to “keep up”. These daily pressures make it really tough to hold a routine together, let alone introduce a new habit.
That’s where habit stacking comes in: a straightforward way to make beginning (and keeping!) habits feel far less overwhelming. So let’s look into how it works in practice, and how you can use it in 2026 to create a daily routine that suits your life better.
What Is Habit Stacking and How Does It Work?
Habit stacking is where you connect a new action to something you already do automatically, like brushing your teeth or making coffee. By attaching (or “stacking”) it to something that’s already part of your day, starting tends to feel simpler.This is because the familiarity of the existing routine acts as an anchor, pulling the new habit along so it fits naturally instead of feeling like a big change.
This approach has become popular in psychology and productivity circles because it’s simple to try and often works well. In fact, research shows that small, steady changes, like adding one extra healthy action into your day, can lift both your productivity and your mood over time. This is because the brain prefers sticking to patterns it already knows, pairing a new action with one that’s deeply familiar helps you skip a lot of the usual mental pushback. Over time, ‘stacked’ habits can form a chain, with each one leading into the next with minimal resistance.
About 43% of what we do is habitual, not consciously decided (Source). This means that nearly half of what you do every day happens on autopilot!
The Science Behind Habit Stacking
A 2025 meta-analysis by the University of South Australia (Source) found that forming a habit could take as little as 4 days or stretch to nearly 335 days. For most people, it’s usually between 59 and 66 days, so sticking with it matters a lot. Habit stacking can help here because it works like a built-in reminder that pushes the process along more quickly.
In neuroscience, this is called “cue-dependent learning,” where the brain links one action to another, similar to matching puzzle pieces. When you connect a new habit to something you already do, your basal ganglia (the brain’s habit control center) can dial in that routine faster. In fact, research on synaptic plasticity shows that repeating the same cue-action combo strengthens neural pathways until they’re really tough to break.
Habit Stacking Step By Step
- Spot the habits you already have: Pay attention to those little routines you hardly notice, like brushing your teeth, checking your inbox first thing, or making your first hot cup of tea or coffee before you’re fully awake. The predictability of these existing habits can work well as anchors.
- Pick a tiny add-on habit: Choose something so small it feels almost too simple to skip – under two minutes is usually best – like a quick drink of water or jotting down a short note. Smaller habits stick faster.
- Connect the new to the old: Put it right before or right after your existing habit so they flow together. Flossing after brushing is a classic example, close timing helps your brain link them.
- Picture the steps: Imagine yourself doing both habits in order. Running it through in your head beforehand makes it feel more achievable.
- Watch your progress: Tracking with a notebook or app lets you see streaks build. Use this data to ask yourself what’s going well, and adjust the rest.
Habit Stacking That Works For You
Students:
Have a go at pairing your first glass of water in the morning with reviewing one flashcard to give your mind a gentle kick-start. Or, after finishing up with study, jot down tomorrow’s top task. This small habit helps keep study progress steady and avoids those last-minute “oh no” moments.
Professionals:
Writing down four main tasks right after logging in can work like a daily guide. Try following your last sent email with a quick desk tidy, papers, mug, stray notes, so the next day begins in a clear space. A clean desk often makes it much easier to focus.
Wellness users:
After brushing your teeth or having a shower, sitting quietly for one minute can set a more grounded tone for the rest of the day. You could also try a short post-dinner walk, which can aid digestion and blow out the cobwebs, as the saying goes – especially after a day indoors.
Parents:
While packing lunch for your kids, consider slipping in a fun or heartfelt note – this small but mighty gesture can lift the mood for both you and your child. After bedtime stories, you could also try one minute of deep breathing to help you both let go of the day before sleep.
Case Studies: Before and After
Low-effort, well‑placed habits can lead to surprisingly big results – here are some examples:
A busy professional found it hard to fit in workouts, so they added a quick 5‑minute stretch right after their morning coffee, probably as the caffeine kicked in. Three months later, they were exercising about 22% more each week (Source). It had become such a normal part of their day it felt really noticeable when they didn’t stick to their new routine.
In another example, a student who wanted better language skills added a short vocabulary drill to their usual social media doomscroll each evening. Six months on, they practiced twice as much, and their test scores improved.
And for one busy parent, five minutes of reading after dinner cleanup often grew into longer sessions, resulting in eight books read that year, up from only two!
Habit Stacking Techniques To Test
- Double stacking: Link two new habits to something you already do without thinking. Imagine sipping your morning tea or coffee (because let’s face it, most people never skip it), then doing a quick meditation, followed by jotting a few notes in your journal.
- Environment design: Set up reminders you can’t ignore. If you want to build in a 3 minute stretch every day after work, leave a yoga mat by your desk – it will make it easier to follow through.
- Time-based stacking: Tie a habit to a specific time instead of waiting for a random cue, like taking two or three minutes to close your eyes and breathe deeply every day at 2 PM.
- Contextual stacking: Connect actions to familiar spots. You could do some squats as soon as you step into the kitchen, or stretch your arms above your head each time you settle down at your desk.
Using a habit tracker app can also help you notice patterns, like spotting that meditation sticks but stretching comes and goes, so you can adjust until it fits into your routine without barely a second thought.
Track Your Stacks with Everyday
Some Solutions for Common Habit Stacking Challenges
Challenge: Forgetting the new habit.
Solution: Make your reminder so obvious that skipping it feels nearly impossible. You might see sticky notes on the fridge, on the bathroom mirror, or smack in the middle of your desk, it’s a bit silly, but that’s the point. Phone alerts tied to something you already do often can make the link feel natural, and usually stop the habit from fading away.
Challenge: Losing motivation.
Solution: Treat your streaks like a game you’re playing with yourself. Apps or calendars can make tracking a lot of fun, especially when you tick off another day. Celebrate those small wins – little rewards keep things sustainable!
Challenge: Overstacking.
Solution: Stick to one or two habits at a time. Don’t try to squeeze in everything at once; begin with something easy.
Challenge: Poor anchor choice.
Solution: Pick something you truly do every single day – drinking water, making a cup of tea, eating lunch. If the anchor isn’t unwaveringly consistent, such as a meeting with your boss or a trip to the gym, the whole stack can crumble and leave you really frustrated and demotivated.
Quick Habit Stacking Troubleshooter
If you find that you simply cannot dial into a habit, we recommend that you start by asking yourself the following:
- Do you have a steady anchor habit? If that anchor isn’t solid, the new habit is on shaky ground, so choose carefully.
- Are you making the new habit so small and easy that it feels fun, not like another chore?
- Are you tracking it often enough? Without notes, spotting patterns gets hard quickly.
- Also think about timing and place: reading in bed at midnight when you’re already sleepy usually won’t stick.
Start Building Better Routines Today
Habit stacking can help you get more done, feel less stressed, and stay focused. And now that you’ve learned how habit stacking works, here comes the fun part: trying it out for yourself!
Pick a habit you already do every single day – like making coffee, brushing your teeth, or locking the door – and add a easy, low-effort action right after it. Usually it will start to feel automatic after just a few weeks, freeing up your mind for things you genuinely enjoy.
Start with something small and easy, as that matters more than getting it “right.” And if the anchor you choose doesn’t feel right, that’s okay – it just means it doesn’t match how your day actually works. Swap it out; once one stack works, the next one usually feels easier. Have fun with it!
Common Questions
What is habit stacking?
It’s a way of fitting new habits into existing routines. This usually feels more manageable than starting one from scratch! Let the flow of the old habit guide the new one, and soon it can feel just as normal, especially when the match feels right.
When does a habit stop feeling like effort?
Research shows that habits can stick in just a few days, however, for some it might take nearly a year – it’s quite a range! Set yourself clear reminders, like a note on the fridge or a daily phone calendar notification on your phone, can go a long way towards supporting faster habit stacking.
Is habit stacking for professionals?
In short: yes! By adding new habits to already normalised routines you perform without paying them a second thought, you don’t need to find extra time in your already busy schedule.
Do I need a habit tracking app?
Not necessarily, but we think you’ll love ours! Lots of people opt for a habit tracking app because they make patterns easier to spot and take a bit of the thinking out of remembering. Every day, you’ll get more out of it… but you’ve got to do it every day!
Can you give me an example of habit stacking?
Sure thing! While waiting for the kettle to boil in the morning, take a minute to stretch – yes, even if you’re still half asleep! Or, after brushing your teeth, grab the floss right away; it’s a sub-one-minute task (and your dentist will probably be happy about it!). And once you’re at your desk and you’ve checked your emails, try jotting down your main task for the day – maybe adding a note about your mood or energy, which can then guide how to best tackle it.