Habit Change
I was reading the Blinkist summary of BJ Fogg’s book Tiny Habits. He’s the world’s expert on human behavior and habits. I loved how he summarized the options for creating habit change.
He argues that there are only three things that can create permanent habit change:
- Epiphanies
- Environmental changes
- Tiny tweaks to existing habits
But there are issue with the first two.
Epiphanies, meaning sudden revelations, are impossible to consciously bring about – unless you possess some kind of magical powers. They are amazing for habit change…but you are not in charge of the habit change.
Environmental changes are often beyond your control; after all, you can’t make all of your friends take up yoga to support you in your new habit. Now this one is more achievable, but it takes a lot of thought and planning.
That leaves so-called tiny habits. These are small actions that take less than a minute to complete, like flossing just one tooth. The idea is that starting small makes it easier to complete the task. And the more often you do that, the better you’ll feel. This creates a feedback loop that, over time, “wires in” new habits. And most importantly, a tiny habit is something you can start doing right now.
Tiny habits FTW.
