B. J. Fogg Quotes

To generate lots of behavior options, you can use the following categories during your own Magic Wanding sessions. What behaviors would you do one time? What new habits would you create? What habit would you stop?

The essence of Tiny Habits is this: Take a behavior you want, make it tiny, find where it fits naturally in your life, and nurture its growth.

EXPLORE WAYS TO STOP A HABIT The Fogg Behavior Model applies to all types of behavior change. In this exercise, you’ll explore simple ways to stop a habit. Step 1: Write down three habits that you’d like to stop. Try to be specific. For instance, write “Stop buying soda for lunch” rather than “Stop drinking soda.” Step 2: For each habit, think of ways you might remove (or avoid) the prompt. If you can’t think of anything, that’s okay. Move on to the next step. Step 3: For each habit, think of ways to make it harder to do (ability). Step 4: For each habit, think of ways to reduce your motivation. Step 5: For each habit, select your best solution from steps 2, 3, and 4. Extra Credit: Put your solution into practice.

If you can remove the vector of fear, then hope will predominate, and your overall motivation level will be higher, which may move you above the Action Line — and you do the behavior.

When you celebrate effectively, you tap into the reward circuitry of your brain. By feeling good at the right moment, you cause your brain to recognize and encode the sequence of behaviors you just performed.

behavior is something you can do right now or at another specific point in time. You can turn off your phone. You can eat a carrot. You can open a textbook and read five pages. These are actions that you can do at any given moment. In contrast, you can’t achieve an aspiration or outcome at any given moment. You cannot suddenly get better sleep. You cannot lose twelve pounds at dinner tonight. You can only achieve aspirations and outcomes over time if you execute the right specific behaviors.

(A note on starting with aspirations versus starting with outcomes: You can start with either. However, I like aspirations as a starting point because they are more flexible and less intimidating than specific outcomes.)

Narrative drama comes from bold action, not from the incremental progress that leads to sustainable success.

When I first teach people my Behavior Model, they are sometimes a little dubious when I tell them this is a universal model. They wonder how one model with just four letters could possibly account for every kind of behavior in every culture.

If you do the Maui Habit and feel that it won’t be a great day, I advise you to still say this phrase. I say it even on mornings when I feel exhausted or overwhelmed or anxious about the day ahead. In that moment, sitting on the edge of my bed, I try to feel optimistic. But if this feels phony, then I adjust the phrase and my intonation as I say, “It’s going to be a great day — somehow.

By keeping the bar low, you keep the habit alive.

The purpose of a Focus Map is to match yourself with easy behaviors that you want to do and that are effective in getting you to your aspiration.

EXERCISE #1: EXPLORE WAYS TO STOP A HABIT The Fogg Behavior Model applies to all types of behavior change. In this exercise, you’ll explore simple ways to stop a habit. Step 1: Write down three habits that you’d like to stop. Try to be specific. For instance, write “Stop buying soda for lunch” rather than “Stop drinking soda.” Step 2: For each habit, think of ways you might remove (or avoid) the prompt. If you can’t think of anything, that’s okay. Move on to the next step. Step 3: For each habit, think of ways to make it harder to do (ability). Step 4: For each habit, think of ways to reduce your motivation. Step 5: For each habit, select your best solution from steps 2, 3, and 4. Extra Credit: Put your solution into practice.

Don’t pressure yourself to do more than the tiniest version of your habit. If you’re sick, tired, or just not in the mood, scale back to tiny.

As I accumulated dozens of new habits — mostly tiny ones — they combined to create a transformation. Sustaining all this did not feel hard. Pursuing change in this way felt natural and oddly fun.