I’m onboarding a new goal to complete #75Medium, a collection of daily goals completed daily for 75 days straight. During my onboarding period, I am designing a system (process) to help me get and stay started.

Today I focused on the reading goal - 10 pages or 10 minutes of audiobooks. Unlike yesterday, I exceeded this goal with zero friction, and roadblocks, and without disrupting other routines.

It worked because I focused on habit stacking, a form of implementation intention where you pair a new habit with an existing routine credited to BJ Fogg. Dr. BJ Fogg founded the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University and is the author of the book Tiny Habits.

Your existing habit is what Fogg calls an Anchor in that it’s so natural and ingrained into your routine that it’s solid and reliable, unlike your memory (People Prompt) or a notification (context prompt).

Here are five reasons why habit stacking is so effective.

Reason One: Existing habits and routines are a natural part of your daily routine; you don’t have to think about them.

Reason Two: Your anchor is reliable, which means it serves as a consistent way to prompt you to make the new habit.

Reason Three: We all have several established routines that allow us to choose from when looking to pair new habits

Reason Four: Habit stacking can be designed based on location, frequency, or themes which helps make the new habit easier to remember and complete.

Reason Five: Pairing a new habit with an anchor habit is all about looking for ways to fit the new practice into your day naturally, and this helps make it easier to stick with a new routine.

Reason Six: This approach is about tailoring your new habit to fit your life instead of vice versa, which helps to make it less stressful to start and increases the likelihood that you will stick with the new routine.