Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything

by B.J. Fogg

If you’re stumped on what might work for you, put yourself in the following scenarios and watch how you react. This will give you a clue about your natural ways of celebrating. Use that natural reaction to feel Shine and wire in your new habits.

Say, “Yes!” or “Yay!”

Smile big

Nod your head

include at least one that is extremely potent—what I call a Power Celebration. You want this option in your back pocket for habits that you need to wire in very quickly.

If celebrating the small stuff is hard for you, the go-big-or-go-home mentality is probably sneaking up on you. Shut it down. It’s a trap. Celebrating a win—no matter how tiny—will quickly lead to more wins. Think about all those times you could have changed but didn’t, and here you are, two squats in—changing.

You’ve got to lower your expectations.

To wire in a habit fast or help yourself remember, you need to rehearse the behavior sequence (the Anchor, then the new habit) and immediately celebrate. Repeat this sequence seven to ten times.

you can become a Habit Ninja faster and more reliably by celebrating at three different times: the moment you remember to do the habit, when you’re doing the habit, and immediately after completing the habit.

If I do a habit and it’s painful or awkward or unpleasant in any way, then my brain is going to rewire and lead me to avoid the habit. Negative emotions seem to shrivel the roots of automaticity. So I keep my habit healthy and alive by celebrating extra hard to offset the pain