I bought vitamins three months in a row and forgot to take them three months in a row. The bottle sat on the counter, a little amber monument to good intentions I never followed through on.

The fix wasn’t willpower. It was moving the bottle.

Anchor it to something you already do

Habits stick when they piggyback on an existing one. Put the vitamins next to your toothbrush or your coffee maker, and take them the same second you do that thing. For me it was the coffee maker. I don’t pour a cup until the vitamins are down.

What made it finally stick

• Put them where you’ll see them. A bottle in a cabinet is a bottle you’ll forget. On the counter next to the coffee is a bottle you’ll trip over until you take them.
• Flip the bottle over after you take them. The visual cue tells you at a glance whether you’ve done it today.
• Use a weekly pill organizer if you take more than one thing. Fill it Sunday night and it’s one less decision all week.
• Set a phone alarm as a backup, but only until the habit forms. Alarms you ignore stop working.

I’ve taken them every day for four months now, which is honestly four months longer than the previous three years combined.