Tiny Habits

October 21, 2019
Fogg (Persuasive Technology), founder and director of the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University, shares his myth-breaking and persuasive research on habits and human behavior. As a behavioral scientist, he writes, he spent years consulting with companies to create products to help employees and customers live happier, more fulfilled lives. However, after experiencing burnout, Fogg realized he needed to concentrate on developing his own healthy habits. Using his success with weight loss, drastically improved physical fitness, and better productivity, he developed the Fogg Behavior Model, which is built on motivation, simplification, and the correlation between emotion and habit, and summed up as “behavior happens when motivation and ability and prompt converge at the same time.” He recommends six steps: clarify the aspiration, explore behavior options, match with specific behaviors, start tiny, find a good prompt, and celebrate successes. For instance, when going through a period of depression, Fogg struggled to maintain a morning routine, so he concentrated on “tiny habits” by setting an intention of brushing his teeth, then flossing, and declaring this a “Victory!” to start the day. This simple routine helped to gradually lift him from depression. Balancing useful practices (including many charts, tables, and graphs) with his own story of personal transformation, Fogg’s convincing method will help any reader reconfigure their habits.

Starred review from December 1, 2019

According to Fogg (founder and director, Stanford's Behavior Design Lab), creating positive change isn't as hard as people think. The author's "tiny habits" method, steeped in decades of research and based on behavior design, asks participants to choose a behavior they wish to change and then apply small 30-second actions that will get them closer to attaining their goals. Accomplishing a tiny change, says Fogg, is positively reinforcing and establishes a mental climate that encourages continued growth. Throughout are a multitude of practical exercises and more than 300 recipes for tiny transformations categorized by various situations and challenges (e.g., work/life balance, destressing, healthy eating, and sleeping well). VERDICT Fogg's method has great potential to promote altered behavior in those who have sought help in other ventures with little success.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2019

Founder and director of Stanford's Behavior Design Lab and one of Fortune's "10 New Gurus You Should Know," Fogg draws on 20 years' worth of research and experience coaching 40,000-plus people to show us how we can break bad habits and make better ones to lead a happier and healthier life. Along the way, he persuades us that it's not about willpower and that you change your life by starting small. With a 150,000 copy first printing.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.