Dr. BJ Fogg (@bjfogg) is the founder and director of Stanford’s Behavior Design Lab, as well as the author of Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything
  • Check out his website
Host Brett McKay (@brettmckay)
Motivation is the driving force that energizes behavior
When setting a new goal, motivation is generally high, but no matter what, it tends to fall with time
  • To hack this, make desired behavior changes easy to accomplish; for instance:
    • Commit to flossing just one tooth
    • Buy a Peleton bike so you don’t have to leave the house to workout
    • Keep vegetables front and center in the fridge
To start, break-up a desired behavior or outcome into small components (i.e., tiny habits)
“Golden Behaviors” have three characteristics:
  • It’s a behavior you want to do
  • It’s a behavior you can do
  • It’s a behavior that will have impact and take you towards your goal
Behaviors that are tied to prompts more readily become ingrained habits
  • Person prompts (self/internal reminders)
  • Context prompts (i.e. Post-it note reminders)
  • Action prompts (prompts tied to your existing routine)
    • For instance, every time BJ pees, he does 2 push-ups
With whatever new habit you’re trying to form, start small
  • i.e. Try flossing just one tooth after every brushing
  • The idea: Keep the bar low; raising the bar sets you up to fail
B=MAP | Behavior happens when three things come together: Motivation, an ability, and a prompt
  • These components compensate for each other:
    • If there’s less motivation to do something, make it easier (thus, raising the ability)
    • If the behavior is difficult (low ability), the motivation to do it must be high
Why?
  • Anything you do that fires off a positive emotion physically restructures the brain
    • (Positive emotions create habits, not repetition!)
How should you celebrate?
  • Throw a fist pump, high five your wife, it doesn’t matter!
There’s a ripple effect—as you achieve positive behavior change, other beneficial life changes naturally follow
  • (Once you feel successful, the over-achiever feeling carries over to other areas and shifts your identity)
Breaking a habit implies it happens immediately
Untangling a habit sets up a more realistic expectation—bad habits aren’t broken overnight
When it comes to goals, specific behaviors > outcomes
  • For instance, when trying to lose weight, make eating <2000 calories/day your goal, not “losing 10 pounds”