Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything

Fogg considers the word “goal” to be unclear: “If someone says ‘goal,’ you can’t be sure what they are talking about since the word is ambiguous” (51). Therefore, in Tiny Habits, the correct word is Aspiration or Outcome.

Behavior Design is the process of building Tiny Habits. There are seven steps, divided into three parts:

Select

Step 1: Clarify the Aspiration

Step 2: Explore Behavior Options

Step 3: Match with Specific Behaviors

Design

Step 4: Start Tiny

Step 5: Find a Good Prompt

Implement

Step 6: Celebrate Successes

Step 7: Troubleshoot, Iterate, and Expand (277).

Behavior Design can be used to solve all kinds of problems beyond curing bad habits. Though the book is called Tiny Habits, it might easily have been titled Behavior Design, as that is the fundamental theory proposed by the book, while Tiny Habits is a specific method of using Behavior Design.

Behavior Matching is the name of the process that uses Magic Wanding, the Swarm of Behaviors, and Focus Mapping to design effective habits that will take root and grow.

This “formula” is the Fogg Behavior Model expressed as an equation. “B” is a behavior, which will happen only if “M” or Motivation, “A” or Ability, and “P” or Prompt, multiply together. If any one of “M”, “A”, or “P” is missing—effectively at zero—then “B” goes to zero and won’t happen. Each variable is addressed in the Tiny Habits formula: Prompt is fulfilled with an Anchor; Ability is enhanced by making the habit tiny; and Motivation is achieved through celebration.

After completing a new habit, no matter how small, the last step is to celebrate. Celebration is “Something you do to create a positive feeling inside of yourself” (113). This part of behavior change is critical because it serves as the reward for the behavior, and behaviors don’t persist unless they’re rewarded. (See also “Shine” below.)

Focus Mapping is a technique that uses a diagram that organizes an Aspiration’s Swarm of Behaviors onto a graph, with high-impact behaviors toward the top and high-ability behaviors toward the right. When finished, a Focus Map will sort the best ideas—the Golden Behaviors—into the upper-right quadrant. These behaviors form the basis for the Tiny Habits that will help achieve an Aspiration.

The Fogg Behavior Model is the author’s basic theory of human behaviors and habits. It states that all behaviors require motivation, ease of ability, and a prompt. The theory is represented by the equation B=MAP. The Tiny Habits method is built on this foundation.

Golden Behaviors are those discovered through Focus Mapping. They are effective, pleasing, and easy to do. On a Focus Map, these behaviors appear in the upper-right quadrant, making them simple to identify. A Golden Behavior “is effective in realizing your aspiration (impact) • You want to do the behavior (motivation) • You can do the behavior (ability)” (58). Among these behaviors are those a user will craft into Tiny Habits.

A Ringleader is a group leader with the power to introduce new techniques and implement training sessions that teach a team how to use the Tiny Habits methods—especially Magic Wanding and Focus Mapping—to improve problem-solving, procedures, and group cohesion. (See also “Group Ninja” below.)

In group or business settings, a “Ninja” is someone who, though not in a leadership position, can use questions and suggestions to introduce, in a stealthy manner, Tiny Habits techniques that the group might use to improve their performance.

A Habiteer is “someone who practices Tiny Habits” (14).

This is another term for Habiteer, a name that highlights the sense of doing Tiny Habits as a high-level, powerful practice, one that can overcome any challenge. (See also “Group Ninja” above.)

Critical to the Behavior Matching portion of Tiny Habits is a brainstorming technique that begins with Magic Wanding. In this process, a session leader asks, “if you could wave a magic wand and get yourself to do any behavior that would reduce your stress, what would it be?” (54) The question gets repeated several times until the person or team involved comes up with several solutions to a specific problem. Ideally, the process results in a list of perhaps a dozen solutions, called the Swarm of Behaviors. These will be used in the follow-up technique of Focus Mapping.

Shine is the author’s name for the feeling of success people get after completing a worthwhile task and celebrating it. Habits form if they get rewarded, and celebrating any win during the process, no matter how small, leads to stronger new habits and more of them: “By skillfully celebrating, you create a feeling of Shine, which in turn causes your brain to encode the new habit” (143).

The Swarm of Behaviors is “a way to help people explore behavior options” (53). It’s a tool for generating 10 or more behaviors that can help achieve an Aspiration. It’s part of a brainstorming session called Behavior Matching in which a Habiteer draws a cloud in which s/he writes the name of an aspiration—get better sleep, lose 20 pounds, play with the dog every evening—then thinks of any and all ways to help achieve that aspiration and writes them into boxes that surround the Aspiration cloud. It doesn’t matter if these ideas seem impossible or too difficult; the point is to get them on paper so that they, in turn, can generate more ideas until the user has many candidates for Tiny Habits. These ideas will then be used during the Focus Mapping portion of Behavior Matching.