Anchoring (Etc.)

When trying to integrate a new practice into your life - be it something mundane like flossing your teeth or something more substantive like regular exercising or reading more - what strategies have you found effective in helping the practice take hold?

I can't recall either how or when I first heard about the power of anchoring in helping a practice take hold. However, I do remember over thirty-five years ago deciding that integrating a meditation practice into my life was important. I also recall how much trouble I had at the time finding a consistent place and time to sit and pay attention only to my breathing. My daughter had just been born, I had a full time and two part-time jobs, life was pretty hectic. 

But the one thing I did Monday to Friday that I knew would not change anytime soon was driving to my full-time job in the a.m. Somehow (had I read about anchoring somewhere? did someone suggest it as a technique? did I identify it as anchoring after landing on my solution?), I came up with meditating in my car in a remote spot in the parking lot of my full-time work location. I left myself an extra half-hour each morning - which also helped me get up earlier and beat most of the rush hour traffic - and, except for days either too cold or too hot to sit in my car for thirty minutes, that consistent place and time issue was solved.

Rather than sharing other examples of how anchoring has worked for me, I'd prefer now to hear your strategies. Perhaps you've never specifically connected your success at integrating a new practice to anchoring it to something else in your life that is a constant. Even so, try re-creating your success story - as I did above - and then share here how you got there. Anchoring or not, maybe your story will help others who have struggled to find an effective way of getting a new practice to take hold.