With habit tools, people did a daily self-kindness exercise more often for six months
Who it’s about: Adults
- Helped
People who got a plan, phone reminders and skip days did the exercise more, and it felt more automatic.
- Rule: Write down when and wheretested
- Rule: Get a remindertested
- Rule: In the same place each timetested
- Rule: Allow up to two skip days a weektested
- Action: Do a short self-compassion exerciseused
- Rule: Anchor it to an old habitused
Randomised trial of 497 US adults with smartphones · vs the same exercise and cue without habit tools · they rated themselves
The study
Who took part
497 US adults with smartphones, about 44 on average and mostly white, who weren't picked for any particular problem. 250 got the habit tools and 247 didn't.
What they did
Both groups had one 15-minute online session. It taught a short self-kindness exercise with soothing touch. Then each person picked a daily cue and was asked to do it every day for six months. The habit group also watched a video on habits. They wrote a plan with times, daily phone reminders, a place, things in the way and rewards. They could skip up to two days a week and were asked to picture each step.
What happened
Three months in, the habit group did the exercise about 6 times a week, against 5, and said it felt more automatic. Six months in, it was about 7 times a week against 5, and it still felt more automatic. The authors say most of the differences were small.
Source
Habit-formation strategies enhance long-term outcomes of a self-compassionate touch micropractice: a randomized controlled trial (2026)
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-63457-4 (opens in a new tab)
