Homework clients actually do: 7 small changes that make it stick

Let’s start with a confession. Most of us have set homework we wouldn’t do ourselves. A daily thought record, a twenty-minute meditation, a mood diary filled in three times a day — handed over in the last two minutes of a session, with the client half out of the door.

And then, the following week, the familiar exchange. “Did you get a chance to do the…?” A small wince. “I meant to. It was a really busy week.” We nod, a little deflated, and quietly wonder whether this client is “motivated enough”.

The thing is, homework matters. Reviews of the research — notably by Nikolaos Kazantzis and colleagues — have found that therapy with between-session tasks tends to do better than therapy without, and that clients who do more of it tend to improve more. So when homework doesn’t get done, it usually isn’t a motivation problem. It’s a design problem. And design problems can be fixed.

A kitchen table in the morning with a mug of coffee, a phone and an open notebook showing a short handwritten to-do list with two items ticked.

1. Design it together

Homework that’s assigned feels like school. Homework that’s agreed feels like a plan. The difference is often one question: “What do you think would be useful to try this week?”

Clients often suggest something smaller and more realistic than we would. That’s a gift, not a weakness. They know their week better than we do.

2. Shrink it until it’s easy

The most useful question in homework design might be this one: “From 0 to 10, how sure are you that you’ll actually do this?” If the answer is below seven or eight, the task isn’t wrong — it’s too big. Shrink it, and ask again.

Shrink it

Keep making it smaller until the answer to “how sure are you?” is 8 or more.

This week’s homework

“Practise mindfulness for 20 minutes every day.”

How sure, 0–10, that you’ll do it? 2 / 10

Step 1 of 4

It can feel like setting the bar too low. It isn’t. A small task done builds momentum and confidence. A big task skipped builds evidence that “therapy homework isn’t for me”.

3. Attach it to something they already do

New habits rarely survive on willpower alone. They survive when they’re hooked onto something that already happens. Research on what psychologists call implementation intentions — simple “when X happens, I’ll do Y” plans, studied by Peter Gollwitzer and others — shows they make people much more likely to follow through.

Build a “when–then” plan

Hook the new thing onto something that already happens.

After I brush my teeth in the morning, I’ll rate my mood from 0 to 10.

Write the plan down in the client’s own words, and get them to say it back to you. It sounds almost too simple. That’s rather the point.

4. Start it in the room

The hardest part of any task is starting it. So start it together. Fill in the first line of the thought record in the session. Do the first breathing exercise side by side. Rate today’s mood before they leave.

Now the homework isn’t “start something new on your own”. It’s “carry on with something you’ve already begun”. That’s a much smaller ask.

5. Plan for the obstacle

Ask: “What’s most likely to get in the way?” Then plan for it together. If the answer is “I’ll forget”, set a phone reminder before they leave. If it’s “my partner will think it’s silly”, plan when to do it privately. If it’s “I won’t have time on Thursday”, make Thursday a day off.

6. Make it easy to record

A worksheet that lives in a bag, folded in half, under a lunchbox, is a worksheet that won’t get filled in. Most people have their phone within reach almost all day. If the homework lives there too — a short form, a slider, a tick — the effort drops to almost nothing.

A person on a train by the window, rating their mood on a simple slider on their phone, with a river and city passing by outside. — Homework that fits into a commute is homework that gets done.

7. Always ask about it

This is the one that makes or breaks everything else. If homework is never mentioned again, clients learn very quickly that it doesn’t matter. So ask about it early in the next session — ideally in the first five minutes.

And when it hasn’t been done, get curious rather than disappointed. “What got in the way?” is a genuinely interesting question. The answers are often exactly what therapy needs to be about: perfectionism, overwhelm, a partner who mocks it, a belief that nothing will help anyway.

Before the client leaves

A quick check you can run in the last few minutes of any session.

Before the client leaves the room

0 / 7

We chose this task together.
They rated their confidence at 8 or more out of 10.
It’s linked to a specific moment in their week.
We started it here, in the session.
We talked about what might get in the way.
They know how and where to record it.
I’ve noted to ask about it at the start of next session.

Small is the point

None of these changes are dramatic. That’s why they work. Homework that clients actually do is usually small, specific, chosen together, and asked about afterwards. Not glamorous. Just effective.

So next session, try one change. Ask the confidence question. Shrink the task. Start it together. See what happens the week after.

This article is for professional education and doesn't replace clinical training or supervision.