Tiny Habits Summary & Review | Book by BJ Fogg

The Small Changes That Change Everything

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We’re scratching the surface in our Tiny Habits summary. If you don’t already have BJ Fogg’s popular book on self-help and psychology, order it here or get the audiobook for free to learn the juicy details.

Introduction

Have you ever wanted to change a habit but never quite got around to it? It can be hard to change your life. You might feel you’re too busy, or that what you want to do is too great a challenge. But even small changes can have a big impact on your life and they don’t have to take long.

Fogg shows the power of breaking down your goal into tiny behaviors. These tiny behaviors can help you achieve your goals and dreams. Fogg’s behavior formula shows you can achieve significant changes by starting small. You can create habits that are good for you and help you live a more balanced life full of positive energy.

Tiny Habits is a culmination of BJ Fogg’s 20 years of human behavior research at Stanford University. He learned that there are only three things that will change your behavior eventually. You can easily control only two of these three. First, you can change your environment. Second, you can engage in tiny behaviors. Tiny Habits shows how humans cannot put in place healthy habits like a new diet or regular exercise. But you can solve these problems by focusing on things you can control. 

“[BJ’s] groundbreaking research is finally accessible to a public eager to change their behaviors and, by extension, their lives.”

– Brad Lauster, former director of product design at Weight Watchers

Listen to the Audiobook Summary of Tiny Habits

About BJ Fogg

BJ Fogg is an American social scientist, author, researcher, teacher, and TEDx speaker. He founded the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University, where he directs research and innovation. Fogg is also known as the “Father of Captology (Persuasive Technology)”. He also teaches industry innovators how to use his models and methods in behavior design.

Fogg has a BA and MA in English from Brigham Young University. He also holds a PhD in Communications from Stanford University. Fogg worked at Stanford as a teaching assistant for Philip Zimbardo, who is best known for the Stanford Prison Experiment.

Fogg’s notable students include New York Times bestselling author, Ramit Sethi, and Mike Krieger, co-founder of Instagram.

StoryShot #1: Only Engage in a Behavior When Your Motivation Levels are High

For a long time, Fogg had been interested in changing his behavior. However, the tiny habits he had created to improve his life became the inspiration for his new model. For instance, every time he needed to go to the bathroom, he would perform two push-ups. This habit became a part of his daily routine, and it helped him lose 20 pounds. His mental strength also improved. This led to him being more effective and productive.

These tiny habits are effective as they are easy and only need minimal motivation. You can learn from the “action curve”. We only engage in a behavior when our motivation levels are “above” the curve. This curve shows we should only engage in difficult actions if we are motivated. For example, you would be motivated to run into a burning building if your child was still inside. Comparatively, brushing your teeth every evening is so easy that it requires minimal motivation. Tiny habits are beneficial because they reduce the amount of motivation needed to do a task. The behavior then goes down the curve to become an easier task.

StoryShot #2: There are Three Challenges to Developing Healthy Habits

Challenge No. 1: Don’t Judge Yourself for Failure

The first challenge in developing healthy habits is that we get hard on ourselves when we fail. Arguably, the most common example of this is when people pick up a new diet. Breaking the diet is just one example of how people can spiral out of control. They exaggerate this failure and let it take over the healthy habit. This cycle is often repeated over again by serial dieters. You will never change your habits by feeling bad for yourself. 

Challenge No. 2: Don’t Mistake Aspirations for Behaviors

A behavior is something that you can do at a specific time. This could be right now or at a defined point in the future. An aspiration is not something you can achieve at a specific time point. Aspirations require you to put several healthy behaviors in place. For example, if you want to improve your sleep quality, avoid eating within an hour of your bedtime. 

Challenge No. 3: Don’t Rely on Motivation to Help You Achieve Goals

There is a common misconception that our motivation helps us reach our lofty goals. But, Fogg highlights that our motivation levels are highly variable. So, you cannot rely on motivation to keep on track with your goals. You need triggers to encourage greater motivation. Yet, you also need the skills required to achieve these goals. You should create tiny habits instead of relying on motivation when you set goals.

StoryShot #3: There’s A Three-Step Formula for Building Tiny Habits

Step 1: Find an Anchor Moment

Anchor moments are existing routines or events that happen frequently. Examples include getting dressed, or the sun rising every morning. These anchors are stable, so they are effective in reminding you to engage in a tiny behavior.

Step 2: Make Behaviors Tiny

Focus on small actions that you can complete in less than thirty seconds. These tiny behaviors should be positive, like doing ten-star jumps. Plus, the tiny behaviors should also immediately follow the anchor moment. 

Step 3: Celebrate Accomplishments with Shine

If you have done something with creative, positive emotions, then do not wait and hold them for a more “perfect” moment. Instead, respond immediately with a celebration of your accomplishments. This might be a statement, such as ”Fantastic!”, or treating yourself to a leisure activity you enjoy. This activity cannot be done hours or days later. It needs to be done directly after the tiny behavior.

Habits are like a tree. Nurture and feed the habit until it grows and forms strong roots in your life. Providing your habit with some “shine” will help the habit grow into something huge. The book describes shine as the feeling you get after an accomplishment, or “authentic pride”. We often struggle to develop habits because we are only willing to bring some shine to our lives when we do something massive, like getting a new job. It might seem odd at first, but you need to learn to celebrate every small accomplishment. 

This is the key to developing habits. Like training a dog, you must reward every positive behavior rather than only rewarding exceptional achievement. Giving a reward to your dog for those positive behaviors will allow your dog to develop habits that are crucial for success. The same is true for you. Giving yourself shine after engaging with tiny habits will help you stay above the action curve.

StoryShot #4: Follow the Fogg Behavior Model

We can conceptualize behavior as a formula. Specifically, behavior is a combination of your motivation, ability, and prompt (B=MAP). Fogg provides an analogy to support this formula. While exercising, he received a text from the Red Cross asking for a donation. Fogg had already considered donating to this charity, so he already had the motivation for this behavior. The donation merely required him to reply to the text, so he could actualize the behavior. Finally, Fogg was prompted to donate by an external source: the Red Cross texted him first. This example shows that behavior relies upon the alignment of each of these factors. If one factor had not been sufficiently met, then he would not have engaged in the behavior of donating to the charity.

When these factors are clear and the behaviors are easy, these behaviors will become a habit. Hence, if you have a bad habit, you can work toward breaking it by removing one factor from the Fogg formula. Similarly, if you want to establish a healthy habit, then you need to establish each of these factors.

StoryShot #5: Relying Too Much on Motivation Is a Mistake

Over-reliance on motivation is a mistake. Yet, this does not mean that motivation is useless. It is still a critical factor in Fogg’s behavior equation. Here are the different sources of motivation:

1. Yourself and what you already want.
2. A benefit or punishment you would receive by doing the action.
3. Your context, such as all your friends engaging in this behavior.

The Three Core Motivators

Fogg’s behavior model highlights the following three core motivators:

1. Sensation

2. Anticipation

3. Belonging

Each of these motivators has two sides: pleasure or pain, hope or fear, and acceptance or rejection, respectively.

Ability and motivation are related to performing behaviors. These three core motivators apply to everyone. They are integral to the human experience.

StoryShot #6: You Have Control Over Ability

Motivation is unpredictable. You have far greater control over your ability. This is especially true for tiny habits, which are supposed to be relatively easy. Fogg started doing two standing push-ups before going to the toilet. This was a behavior easily within his ability range. Hence, he felt able to maintain this positive behavior. Suppose he had instead set himself the goal of doing 50 push-ups per day. This may have been possible with his physical abilities. But it would have been difficult and would undoubtedly need motivation. So, you must focus on healthy behaviors within your ability range. This will increase your chances of developing these behaviors into tiny habits.

When building a new habit, always ask the discovery question: “What is making this behavior hard to do?”

Fogg’s research showed that typical answers to this question involve at least one of five key factors. He calls these factors the “Ability Factors”. He also developed five questions based on these factors:

1. Do you have enough time to do the behavior?
2. Do you have enough money to do the behavior?
3. Are you physically capable of doing the behavior?
4. Does the behavior require significant creative or mental energy?
5. Does the behavior fit into your current routine, or does it require you to make adjustments?

If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, you need to make your chosen behavior easier and tinier. 

StoryShot #7: Make Your Behaviors Easier and Tinier

After identifying a behavior that you want to make into a tiny habit, you can adopt three approaches.

Increase Your Skills

If you have built a habit but are struggling with ability, you can increase your skills. Aiming for a behavior becomes easy with increased ability. Ensure you decide to increase your skills when your motivation levels are high. 

Acquire Tools and Resources

To engage in a new behavior effectively, you must have tools and resources. For example, if you want to get physically fit, it would be wise to invest in some sports clothing like a good pair of trainers.  

Make the Behavior Tiny

Finally, you can make the behavior smaller by focusing on the behavior step by step. Work on the starter steps, and you will move toward your desired behavior. As well as breaking the behavior into steps, you can scale back the behavior so it is less challenging. 

StoryShot #8: Know How to Use Prompts

There Are Three Types of Prompt

First, there are “person prompts”. These prompts are internal and rely on something inside you to prompt a behavior. These types of prompts are more valuable for essential behaviors, like drinking water. But you cannot rely on person prompts to create meaningful change in your life.

Second, “context prompts” incorporate the cues within your environment. These cues encourage you to engage in a specific behavior. For example, you could set a mobile phone notification to remind you of a friend’s birthday. This context prompt would encourage you to engage in the positive behavior of contacting your friend to wish them a happy birthday. Despite the potential usefulness of context prompts, they have limitations. For example, it can become challenging to manage several context prompts at once.

The third type, “action prompts”, is the most effective. An action prompt is a habitual behavior that can remind you to perform a new habit you want to cultivate. This utilizes your established behaviors. An example would be going for a daily run after dropping the kids off at school.

Follow the Tiny Habit Recipe

The relationship between two behaviors is your tiny habit recipe. The template for this recipe is “After I (anchor), I will (new habit).”

When choosing your anchor for the tiny habit recipe, take these three factors into account:

1. Match the physical location: To do this, you need to find an anchor you do in that location.
2. Match the frequency: Decide how often you want to do your new habit. Then identify an anchor that matches your new habit’s frequency.
3. Match the theme/purpose: Ensure that the anchor has the same theme or purpose as the new habit. 

StoryShot #9: Practice Golden Behaviors

It is important to choose the correct behaviors to change your life for the better. Crucially, these behaviors should match your goals and individual abilities. The behaviors that meet all these requirements are called “golden behaviors”.

Here are the three criteria to define a golden behavior:

1. The behavior is effective in realizing your aspiration. This is the impact of the behavior. 
2. You want to engage with this behavior. This is your motivation to do this specific behavior.
3. You can do the behavior. This is your ability to engage with this behavior. 

Hence, golden behaviors are built upon the Fogg Behavior Model.

Final Summary and Review 

We all have habits. Some of your habits might be holding you back. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Tiny Habits is a brilliant book for anyone who wants to improve their habits and performance on the job, at school, or in their personal lives. It’s written in an engaging way that takes us through Fogg’s own experience with change. You get tips on how to make those changes stick. It is a great read if you are interested in learning more about how to change your habits and improve your life. 

Let’s go through the key insights from Tiny Habits. Tag us on social media and let us know which ones you find helpful in your own life!

1. Only engage in a behavior when your motivation levels are above the curve.

2. Avoid judging yourself over failure. 

3. Don’t mistake aspirations for behaviors.

4. You need triggers to encourage greater motivation.

5. Relying too much on motivation is a mistake.

6. Make behaviors tiny.

7. Celebrate all accomplishments. 

8. To form a new habit, combine ability with motivation and a prompt.

9. Know your sources of motivation. 

10. Focus on healthy behaviors well within your ability range.

11. Make your behaviors easier and tinier.

12. Understand how to use prompts.

13. Choose behaviors that help you realize your aspirations.

Change can be hard, but it’s essential. It’s not just about the act of adjusting to a new situation. It’s about learning how to do it, and the tools you use to help yourself through that process. Tiny Habits can help us develop better ways of behaving in our lives to achieve a happier and more rewarding life.

Tiny Habits Toolkit and Worksheet

Editor’s Note and Disclaimer

This article was first published in 2021. It was revised on 5 Jan 2023. The content here is an unofficial summary and analysis.

Rating

We rate Tiny Habits 4/5.

How would you rate BJ Fogg’s book based on this summary?

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