Why does trigger placement behavior change fail?

The most common reason trigger placement behavior change fails: Placing triggers where you think you should encounter them rather than where you actually move. If your trigger is on the kitchen counter but you enter through the garage and go straight to the office, you designed for an ideal path, not your real one. Audit your actual movement patterns before placing anything.

The fix: Choose one behavior you want to trigger more reliably. Identify the exact physical or digital location where you'll be at the moment you want the behavior to fire. Place a cue there — a physical object, a sticky note, a tool positioned for immediate use. The cue must be impossible to miss and require zero retrieval effort. Test it for three days and note each time it fires versus each time you walked past it.

The underlying principle is straightforward: Position trigger cues where you will encounter them at the right moment.