Coaching practices for How to Automate a Habit

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For How to Automate a Habit, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• My bad habits run on autopilot but the good one I’m trying to build never feels automatic
• I keep meaning to start a good new habit
• I keep doing this thing I swear I’ll stop, and I genuinely can’t say what sets it off or what I’m even getting out of it
• I want a new habit to just happen on its own without me having to remember and decide every single time, but right now it depends entirely on me mustering the intention, so it falls apart the moment I’m busy or tired.
• I catch myself already mid-habit

Practices that may help

1. Build a craving deliberately to cement a new habit
   Create an anticipatory craving for the reward of a new behavior before the reward arrives.
   The Habit Loop, Made Practical
2. Engineer cues for habits you want
   Place obvious, consistent triggers in your environment to start a desired routine.
   The Power of Habit, Made Practical
3. Map the cue-routine-reward loop
   Break a habit into its three parts before you try to change anything.
   The Power of Habit, Made Practical
4. Build a new cue–behavior association for habits you want to start
   Pair the target behavior consistently with a reliable, specific cue until the association fires automatically.
   Stimulus Control, Made Practical
5. Identify your cue
   Pin down the exact trigger that fires the habit before you can do anything about the habit.
   The Habit Loop, Made Practical
6. Habit stacking
   Anchor a new habit to one you already do: “After [current habit], I will [new habit].”
   Atomic Habits, Made Practical
7. Attach the habit to an anchor moment
   Use an existing routine as the prompt: “After I [anchor], I will [tiny behavior].”
   Tiny Habits, Made Practical
8. Build the capture habit before anything else
   Install one habit at a time — start with ubiquitous capture — before adding other ZTD practices.
   Zen To Done (ZTD), Made Practical
9. Let the habit grow on its own
   Once the tiny habit is automatic, let it expand naturally instead of forcing more.
   Tiny Habits, Made Practical
10. Pair a new behavior with an existing conditioned cue
    Attach the new behavior to a cue that already reliably fires, leveraging the existing conditioned association.
    Classical Conditioning and Habit Triggers

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