“Voweling My Habit” — It’s as simple as A-E-I-O-You.

The Mnemonic You Already Know That Can Make Habits Easy

Made for ADHD, but strong enough for anyone!

My dentist tells me I need to floss more.
To be specific, I need to floss more regularly — make it into a habit.

You’re fifty-six years old, Gray. Why isn’t it a habit already? I used to blame it on my upbringing — brushing was something encouraged, but for whatever reason flossing was never part of my bedtime or morning routine.

Now, though, I know that the truth of my ADHD brain is that it is not very good at creating habits, at least not in the tried-and-true “Atomic Habits” style.

This is due to a lot of things, most notably my brain’s poor use of available dopamine:

Habits are often formed through a process of repetition and reward. When the dopamine system isn’t functioning optimally, it can be harder to find the motivation to repeat behaviors consistently enough for them to become automatic. — Neurolaunch

This means that even if my parents had encouraged me to floss, the odds of it becoming a habit — that is, something that I just do automatically without having to put much thought into it — are pretty low.

There’s no magic “30-day” or “6-week” rule.