Habit Stacking

Habit Stacking is the idea of forming habit in the phrase “After/before I [current habit], I will [new habit]“. For example,

After a get up each morning, I will do 5 minutes exercises.

Habit stacking can be seen as a special form of implementation intention, where we plan ahead on when and where to act. Thus, the more precise you are about the time and place of the previous action, the more effective. For instance, it’s better to say “after I finish dinner” rather than “in the evening.”

The idea is articulated by BJ Fogg and documented in the “Atomic Habits” book.