Motivation isn't reliable or predictable. The first element of behavior is motivation.

Motivation is the last one to play with because it's the least predictable or reliable.

When you can't change one factor, you can play with the others.

Repeating the habit makes it easier, moving it along the ability axis.

If it doesn't, you won't.īuilding a habit involves playing with the graph, with different prompts and levels of motivation and ability. So if a prompt lies on the right side of it, you'll complete the action. The more ability you have (the easier it is), the less you need to rely on motivation.Īnd the action line is the dividing line. Imagine a graph plotting ability against motivation, with the prompt as a plot on the graph, like so: The Tiny Habits Behavior Model states that behavior happens when the elements of MAP (motivation, ability, and prompts) line up at the same moment. This is the Tiny Habits model of behavior change.Īnd Tiny Habits are made up of an anchor moment, a new tiny behavior, and an instant celebration. Find where it naturally fits in your life, and nurture its growth.

So instead of going big, and then going home (because you've burned yourself out too quickly), take a behavior you want to start doing and make it tiny. That makes it so small that it hides emotional risk and removes the problem of finding time for the habit. Tiny Habits says that popular thinking about habit formation, all that 'go big or go home' stuff, encourages to set unrealistic expectations.īut lasting change is easier when you start small, and you want to start as small as 30 seconds. That model has been used by lots of other habit experts and cited in lots of other habit building books (like Atomic Habits and The Power of Habit).īut until he published Tiny Habits in 2020, his full perspective on habit building and change wasn't readily available to anyone.

Break things down into tiny, manageable stepsĪnd both of those tactics come together in the book Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg.įogg is a researcher at Stanford who published the Fogg Behavior Model over a decade ago.

Rely on habits and routines as much as possible, instead of one-off batches and sprints.

The best ways I've found to combat that tendency of mine are to: īoth to other people ('sure, I can get that to you by the end of the day!), and to myself ('you TOTALLY have time to launch a new course right now!'). One thing I learned about myself early in adulthood was that I had a tendency to get too excited and overcommit myself. The first piece of content we published when Work Brighter first started talking about mental illness, was all about the power of baby steps.Īnd I don't just prefer them because my feet are a size 2.

Tiny bj