New accounts usually add five habits on the first evening. Run every morning, read for an hour, cook every night. By the second week most of those rows are empty, and an empty screen is hard to open.
Small is easier to repeat
A habit that takes two minutes survives a bad day. You can drink a glass of water when you are tired, late or in a hotel. You cannot always run five kilometres, and the first missed day is where most plans end.
Pick the version of the habit you would still do on your worst Tuesday.
Let it grow on its own
Two minutes of stretching often becomes ten once you are on the floor. That is welcome, but the dot only asks for two. Keep the promise small and let the extra be a bonus.
Add the second habit later
In our numbers, people who started with one habit and added a second after three full rows were the most likely to still be here at ninety days. Give the first one time to become boring.
Written by Tove Halvorsen
Product designer at Dotty
Keep reading
Stories
28 August 2026
5 min read
A family row on the fridge
How one household of four shares a single row, and what happens when someone forgets.
Product
14 August 2026
4 min read
What we left out of Dotty, and why
No scores, no leaderboards, no streak freezes for sale. A short list of things we said no to.
Habits
30 July 2026
5 min read
Evening habits need a different reminder
A nudge at 8pm lands differently from one at 8am. Notes from 2,000 reminder texts.
