Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything

by B.J. Fogg

When our results fall short of our expectations, the inner critic finds an opening and steps on stage.

In order to design successful habits and change your behaviors, you should do three things. Stop judging yourself. Take your aspirations and break them down into tiny behaviors. Embrace mistakes as discoveries and use them to move forward.

I tinkered with the behaviors I wanted to incorporate into my life.

Whenever something didn’t work, I went back to my models and analyzed what happened. I started seeing patterns.

started each day with an uplifting series of habits, and I designed (and redesigned) my life and my environment to get better sleep.

my ability to change was increasing

there are only three things we can do that will create lasting change: Have an epiphany, change our environment, or change our habits in tiny ways.

Take a behavior you want, make it tiny, find where it fits naturally in your life, and nurture its growth.

you focus on small actions that you can do in less than thirty seconds.

My Recipe for the Maui Habit After I . . . I will . . . wake up and put my feet on the floor, say, “It’s going to be a great day.” To wire the habit into my brain, I will immediately: A simple recipe for starting each day in the best way using the Tiny Habits method.

the only consistent, sustainable way to grow big is to start small.

take one bite at a time.

swapped out all her go-to sugary snacks with snacks containing less sugar that she still liked to eat,

her unresolved grief was prompting many of her sugar-bingeing behaviors—so

When something is tiny, it’s easy to do—which means you don’t need to rely on the unreliable nature of motivation.

celebrate successes no matter how small they are.

The Anatomy of Tiny Habits 1. ANCHOR MOMENT An existing routine (like brushing your teeth) or an event that happens (like a phone ringing). The Anchor Moment reminds you to do the new Tiny Behavior. 2. NEW TINY BEHAVIOR A simple version of the new habit you want, such as flossing one tooth or doing two push-ups. You do the Tiny Behavior immediately after the Anchor Moment. 3. INSTANT CELEBRATION Something you do to create positive emotions, such as saying, “I did a good job!” You celebrate immediately after doing the new Tiny Behavior. Anchor Behavior Celebration

A behavior happens when the three elements of MAP—Motivation, Ability, and Prompt—come together at the same moment. Motivation is your desire to do the behavior. Ability is your capacity to do the behavior. And Prompt is your cue to do the behavior.

Behaviors are like bicycles. They can look different, but the core mechanisms are the same. Wheels. Brakes. Pedals.

When a behavior is prompted above the Action Line, it happens.

What causes the behavior to be above or below the line is a combination of motivation pushing you up and ability moving you to the right.

Behaviors that ultimately become habits will reliably fall above the Action Line.

The more motivated you are to do a behavior, the more likely you are to do the behavior

The harder a behavior is to do, the less likely you are to do it

The easier a behavior is to do, the more likely the behavior will become habit.

motivation and ability can work together like teammates. If one is weak, the other needs to be strong to get you above the curve.

So what I did was remove the prompt.

one-time action disrupted the behavior by removing the prompt.

With enough tinkering, you can design for almost any behavior you want and short-circuit most behaviors you don’t.

He hadn’t been specific about what he wanted, so the abstract behavior felt hard to do for me. What he did next was brilliant and simple. He showed me what to do.

We often want to do a behavior—or want someone else to do a behavior—and are met with little or no success.

Check to see if there’s a prompt to do the behavior. See if the person has the ability to do the behavior. See if the person is motivated to do the behavior.

So you design a prompt for the next day by asking, “What do you think would be a good reminder for you tomorrow?”

Did you have something to prompt you? What is making this hard to do?

She had the ability, but she was not sufficiently motivated

treat your life as your own personal “change lab”—a place to experiment with the person you want to be.

Write down three habits that you’d like to stop. Try to be specific.

For each habit, think of ways you might remove (or avoid) the prompt.

For each habit, think of ways to make it harder to do (ability).

For each habit, think of ways to reduce your motivation.

For each habit, select your best solution from steps 2, 3, and 4.

Motivation is often unreliable when it comes to home improvement.

motivation is often fickle,

focus on three sources of motivation: yourself (what you already want), a benefit or punishment you would receive by doing the action (the carrot and stick), and your context (e.g., all your friends are doing it).

Each year almost one hundred million people enroll in an online course, but the vast majority drop out. Most studies show that less than 10 percent cross the finish line.

Willpower decreases from morning to evening. Complex decisions get harder by late in the day.

what actually drives behavior—ability and prompt.

finding specific behaviors

match their customers with specific behaviors that were easy and effective.