Help center/Learning and self Works today

Build a habit

Your assistant helps you pick one small habit and keeps count each time you check in.

Suggested tools

You can set these up yourself. Get the app, follow the steps, then copy the prompt.

• Streaks

  $5.99

  An iPhone app that counts how many days in a row you did your habit.

  Download for iPhoneOpen the website

  1. Add your habit as a task in Streaks. Start with one.
  2. Tap the task each day you do it. Streaks sends the reminder.
  3. Once a week, take a screenshot of the task's statistics.
  4. Text it to your assistant and ask what to change.

  Copy this prompt and give it to your assistant

  • I just got the Streaks app and I want you to help me keep one habit. Help me pick the habit first. Walk me through it one step at a time and wait for me after each step: I add it as a task, tap it each day, and once a week send a screenshot of its statistics. Then tell me which days I missed and help me pick one small change.

    Copy

  Your assistant cannot see Streaks or mark a day as done. It only sees the screenshots you send.

• Loop Habit Tracker

  Free

  A free Android app to check off habits each day. No ads.

  Download for AndroidOpen the website

  1. Add your habit in Loop and set a reminder time.
  2. Check it off each day you do it.
  3. Once a week, take a screenshot of the habit's history.
  4. Text it to your assistant and ask what to change.

  Copy this prompt and give it to your assistant

  • I just got Loop Habit Tracker and I want you to help me keep one habit. Help me pick the habit first. Walk me through it one step at a time and wait for me after each step: I add it in Loop with a reminder time, check it off each day, and once a week send a screenshot of its history. Then tell me which days I missed and help me pick one small change.

    Copy

  Your assistant cannot see Loop or mark a day as done. It only sees the screenshots you send.

• Reminders (repeating reminder)

  Free

  The free iPhone app that can remind you of your habit every day at the same time.

  Download for iPhone

  1. Ask your assistant to help you pick one small habit and a time of day.
  2. In Reminders, add a new reminder with the habit as the name.
  3. Tap the info button, set the time, and set Repeat to Daily.
  4. Each evening, text your assistant whether you did it.

  Copy this prompt and give it to your assistant

  • I want to build one habit: (habit). Help me make it small and pick a time. I will set a daily reminder on my iPhone and text you each evening if I did it. Keep count for me.

    Copy

  The reminder comes from your iPhone, not from your assistant. Your assistant texts first only if Sam turns on the reminders add-on.

What to text

• I want to build a habit: drink water when I wake up. Help me make it small and easy.

  Copy

• Start a habit log for "walk 10 minutes after lunch."

  Copy

• Done today.

  Copy

• How many days did I do it this week?

  Copy

• I keep missing it. Help me figure out why and make it easier.

  Copy

Steps

1. Pick one habit. Only one.
2. Text it and ask for help to make it small. So small you can do it on a bad day.
3. Tie it to something you already do. For example: "after I brush my teeth."
4. Each day you do it, text "Done today."
5. Once a week, ask how many days you did it.
6. If you keep missing, tell it why. Ask it to make the habit easier.

Example conversation

Make it stick

• One habit at a time. Add a second one only when the first feels easy.
• Missing a day is normal. The goal is to start again the next day.
• Your assistant does not text you first, so it will not nudge you. Tie your check-in text to the habit itself.