Tiny Habits

(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.)

Remember, for a behavior (B) to occur, three elements must converge at the same moment: Motivation, Ability, and Prompt. It’s a model that has profound implications. Each person’s motivation, ability, and prompt will be different in any given situation.

Motivation Is Unreliable Motivation is often unreliable when it comes to home improvement. And it’s also unreliable with diets, exercise routines, creative projects, filing taxes, opening businesses, searching for jobs, planning

My Recipe—Tiny Habits Method After I . . . I will . . . To wire the habit into my brain, I will immediately: brush my teeth, floss one tooth.

If you need more guidance, you can go online to get the exact script and watch how other people teach the model. The few minutes it takes to learn to teach the Behavior Model is a terrific investment of your 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 an

You get down to specifics in step 2. You select one of your aspirations, then come up with a bunch of specific behaviors that can help you achieve your aspiration. You are not making any decisions or commitments in this step. You are exploring your options.

Step 1: See the appendix on page 279 for the script to teach the Fogg Behavior Model.

When guiding people in this process, I like to remind them that for now they have magical powers. They can get themselves to do any behavior. Move to Maui. Bring a dog to work. Get a management job that pays 30 percent more. It’s important to explore in this step—and be wildly optimistic. I call this method Magic Wanding.