Stanford professor B.J.Fogg suggests lasting behavior change grows from many tiny habits.
YOUTUBE AdKUJxjn-R8 B.J.Fogg presents Tiny Habits at TEDx Fremont.
behavior = motivation x ability x trigger
Difficult behaviors require high motivation. Easy tasks require only low motivation. Change behavior by accumulating tiny habits.
The core mechanic for building tiny habits is to choose an existing habit as a trigger for the new habit. His first example: After I pee, I will do two pushups. The seeds of tiny habits grow into lasting changes in behavior.
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Test Driven Development offered a before-hook for a new behavior. Before I write any code, I will first write a test.
I suspect that many of the activities of the best programmers are easily learned and reinforced by habitual practice based of simple triggers.