JOURNAL · GUIDES · 18 OF 18
How the mechanics actually work
Cues, targets, streak rules, and the research behind the numbers people repeat without checking. These are the pages to read if you have tried tracking twice and stopped twice, because the fix is usually mechanical rather than motivational.
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How many days does it take to build a habit?
The 21 day number comes from a plastic surgeon's memoir. The research says something less tidy and more useful.
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GUIDES
How to build a morning routine you keep past week two
Blocks beat lists. Four habits, one tap, a fixed trigger.
GUIDES
Accountability partners: what helps and what is theatre
Telling someone works under specific conditions. Posting about it mostly does not.
GUIDES
Setting a habit target you will still hit in month three
Targets are usually set by an optimistic version of you who is not the one doing the work.
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How to get your habit data out of any tracker
Export formats, screenshot rescue, and what to check before you commit a year to an app.
GUIDES
Habit tracking for beginners: the first two weeks
A day by day plan for the fortnight where most new tracking attempts quietly stop.
GUIDES
Tracking quitting something instead of starting it
Abstinence habits invert every default in a tracker. Here is how to set one up so it helps.
GUIDES
The two day rule, and why it beats a perfect streak
One missed day is noise. Two in a row is the start of a pattern. That is the whole rule.
GUIDES
Temptation bundling, tested on genuinely boring habits
Pair the thing you avoid with the thing you would do anyway. It works, but only under one condition.
GUIDES
Designing the cue: putting the trigger where you will see it
Most failed habits are not motivation problems. They are cues you never encounter.
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Daily or weekly targets: which one you should set
Daily targets are easier to build. Weekly targets are easier to keep. The trick is knowing when to switch.
GUIDES
How to choose a habit tracker without downloading eleven of them
Six questions that narrow the field faster than reading feature lists.
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Implementation intentions: the if-then sentence that does the work
One of the few behaviour findings that replicated. It takes about thirty seconds to use.
GUIDES
How to track habits in a spreadsheet (and when to stop)
A spreadsheet is the most flexible tracker there is. It is also the one you stop opening in March.
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How many habits can you track at once before it stops working
Most people start with nine and keep two. Starting with two and keeping two is faster.
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How to restart after you break a streak
The day after a miss is where most habits die, and it has nothing to do with motivation.
GUIDES
Habit stacking: chaining a new habit onto one you already keep
The formula is simple and most people still get it wrong at the second link. Here is where it breaks.
GUIDES
Habit trackers with no subscription: what a one-time purchase really buys
Subscription fatigue is real, but so are server bills. Here is how to tell which apps can honestly charge once.