Power of a Piggy Back

I've read and tried the concept of piggy backing a new habit onto an existing habit. The underlying principle is it's easier to add to an existing routine than trying to start a new thing from scratch. Last year I had tried to expand my night time routine to include flossing and washing my face every night. So as I was brushing my teeth I would just add a few extra steps to incorporate these new habits I wanted to form. I forget how long I worked on it, let's say a month, and it didn't stick. 

Interestingly, I found myself pulling from the parenting playbook. I'd be brushing my teeth and wanting to skip the rest and just go to bed. But I reasoned with myself that I had to do at least one new thing, but I could choose: floss or face. Interestingly this worked quite well and I fairly consistently chose flossing. Mainly because it was faster and less messy. I think I didn't succeed because I just didn't stick with it long enough. Thy say it takes over 60 days of practice to create the rewriting in your brain for the habit to stick. 

Well, fast forward to now, and I'm wanting to wash my face on a regular basis. I stepped back, took a look at why it didn't work before and readjusted. And I have high hopes for try number two. I think my problem was I was trying to piggy back onto the last habit of my day when I am at my lowest energy. I'm still having to work hard just to make sure I do brush my teeth before bed let alone adding anything else. And I realized my night time routine is more spread out over the evening. I need to piggy back new habits onto the front end of my evening routine where possible. So today, when I came home and the first thing I do is change out of my work clothes (keeps cat hair to a minimum) into my pajamas, I took an extra step and washed my face, and applied moisturizer. It barely took any time, wasn't that onerous, and felt good I accomplished it. I feel like this could be the start of a good thing. Now I just need to look at other things I'm doing on a regular basis and add to them the stuff I want to accomplish.