<p>Who is the author of Tiny Habits?</p>

<p>BJ Fogg is the author of Tiny Habits.</p>

Productivity

Tiny Habits Book Summary - Tiny Habits Book explained in key points

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Tiny Habits summary

Name: Tiny Habits
Rating: 4.6 (2130 reviews)
Author: BJ Fogg

BJ Fogg

The Small Changes That Change Everything

4.6 (2130 ratings)

22 mins

Brief summary

Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg offers a practical approach to forming lasting habits through small, achievable changes. By celebrating success and adapting to individual needs, this book provides a blueprint for sustainable behavior change.

Topics

Routines & Habits Goals Effectiveness

Table of Contents

Tiny Habits
Summary of 7 key ideas

Audio & text in the Blinkist app

Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Transform your life with tiny habits.

Every year, millions of people resolve to make positive changes in their lives. We decide to eat healthier, exercise more, and get more sleep. For a time, we work out, swap vegetables for fries, and make sure we’re tucked in bed by 11:00 p.m. And life feels great.

But then something happens. As the weeks go by, these new habits start slipping. We miss a day, then a week, then another. Soon enough, we’re back to square one. Why, we ask ourselves, is it so hard to make lasting changes to our day-to-day life?

Stanford-based behavioral expert BJ Fogg has an answer: we simply take on too much at a time. So rather than taking it slow with, say, a new 10-minute fitness routine at home, we start out with a grueling daily 2-hour gym regimen.

The problem with this approach is that we’re upending our life for the change. And once that initial enthusiasm ebbs and our body begins protesting, motivation plummets and that new gym membership becomes little more than a guilty reminder of failure.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. In these blinks, we’ll explore Fogg’s alternative – creating sustainable change, one “tiny habit” at a time.

Along the way, you’ll learn

why motivation and willpower alone don’t guarantee success;
how prompts trigger both good and bad habits; and
why it’s so important to “anchor” new behaviors in existing routines.

Creating positive change can be easy, but it requires a new approach.

Everyone wants to make changes. Some folks strive to lead healthier lives and get in shape; others focus on becoming more productive or finding outlets for their creativity. But the stream of media reports on rising obesity levels, sleeplessness, and job dissatisfaction show that something is wrong. They suggest there’s a sizable gap between what we want to do and what we actually do. Typically, we believe that this disconnect is due to a lack of willpower on our part. But that’s not true.

So here’s the key message in this blink: Creating positive change can be easy, but it requires a new approach.

If you’ve ever failed at introducing a positive new habit into your life, there’s a good chance you blamed yourself – if only you were more disciplined and motivated, you could’ve done it, right?

Well, not necessarily. As we’ll see later on, there’s little evidence to support the idea that motivation is the sole key to changing behavior. This means that the real culprit isn’t you – it’s your approach to change.

Think of it this way: if you try to assemble a flat-pack chest of drawers, but find that the instructions are wrong and key parts are missing, you’re going to fail. It’ll be frustrating, but of course you won’t blame yourself. No – you’ll call the manufacturer and demand a refund. But when it comes to self-improvement, we let the “manufacturer” off the hook.

That needs to change. How? Try a different, two-step approach.

First off, stop blaming yourself. If you’ve found it hard to change in the past, you’ve probably been doing it wrong. And the reason is simple: years of well-meaning but unscientific advice. Change can be easy when you understand how human behavior actually works, and that’s something we’ll dig into in these blinks.

Second, you need to take your aspirations – say, winning a lifelong struggle with obesity, or saving enough for an early retirement – and break them down into manageable, bite-sized chunks.

This methodology produces sustainable change. And it’s not just a theory. The author’s Stanford Behavior Design Lab has researched, road-tested, and refined this approach over the years, with over 40,000 people.

Ready? Great – let’s dive in!

If you want meaningful long-term change, start small.

Can you imagine cooking a healthy, balanced meal each night? How about also writing a daily entry in a gratitude journal and going out for a run every morning? If the idea of adopting multiple new habits like these seems difficult, there’s help at hand.

Here’s the key message in this blink: If you want meaningful long-term change, start small.

Three key variables drive human behavior – motivation, ability, and prompts.

You probably already know that to change your life, you have to change your behavior. What you might not know is that there are only a couple of factors that determine whether or not you’ll succeed.

The key message in this blink: Three key variables drive human behavior – motivation, ability, and prompts.

Motivation may suffice for one-off feats, but it’s not enough for sustained change.

Did you know that over 100 million people enroll in online courses every year, but just 10 percent of them graduate? The other 90 percent drop out. Why? For the same reason that people accumulate unused gym passes in their wallets and dusty vegetable juicers in their basements. They got caught in a common human mind trap: they overestimated the power of motivation alone.

And that’s the key message here: Motivation may suffice for one-off feats, but it’s not enough for sustained change.

The easier a habit is, the higher the chances that you’ll adopt it.

When Instagram launched back in 2010, its founders already knew that people were motivated to post photos of themselves online. But no one else had focused on the second variable of behavior: ability. And that’s what set Instagram apart. Taking, uploading, and posting a photo took just three clicks. It was remarkably easy, and people loved the platform for it. Within just 18 months, the company had been sold for $1 billion. Today, it’s worth $100 billion! Simplicity pays off.

And that’s the key message here: The easier a habit is, the higher the chances that you’ll adopt it.

You can design prompts to trigger your own desired behaviors.

Wherever you are, you’re surrounded by prompts that trigger specific responses. Whether it’s the rumble of an empty stomach telling you to eat, or the green traffic light that makes you hit the gas, these prompts announce: “Do this behavior now!” This process is often unconscious – you just do something without giving much thought to why. And this automaticity presents a chance to cement positive changes in your life.

So what’s the key message here? You can design prompts to trigger your own desired behaviors.

When designing your action prompts, consider location, frequency, and theme.

Like anchors, action prompts stop you from drifting around aimlessly, but you have to be careful where you drop them. The best spots are in routines that you repeat over and over again, day in and day out. These should be the solid rocks among the shifting sandbars of your daily life. And all you need to do now is find them.

The key message here is: When designing your action prompts, consider location, frequency, and theme.

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What is Tiny Habits about?

Tiny Habits (2019) is a meditation on the virtues of not biting off more than you can chew. If you want to make positive changes stick, behavioral analyst BJ Fogg argues, you have to think small. Want to get in shape? Start with two pushups a day. Want to become more mindful? Take a yoga breath every time you close your car door. These “tiny habits” set the bar low, which means it’s easier to incorporate them into your existing routine. Over time, however, they rewire your brain and make virtuous habits as automatic as brewing a cup of coffee in the morning.

Tiny Habits Review

Tiny Habits is a book by BJ Fogg that explores the power of small behaviors in creating lasting change. Here are three reasons why this book is worth reading:

It provides practical strategies for adopting tiny habits that lead to significant outcomes.
Through real-life examples and scientific research, the book offers valuable insights into human behavior and motivation.
With its engaging storytelling and relatable anecdotes, the book keeps readers hooked, ensuring an interesting and informative reading experience.

Best quote from Tiny Habits

Write this phrase on a small piece of paper: I change best by feeling good, not by feeling bad.

—BJ Fogg

Who should read Tiny Habits?

Would-be world-beaters looking for innovative hacks
Anyone struggling to stick to their New Year’s resolutions
People interested in self-improvement and the science behind habits

About the Author

BJ Fogg is an expert on persuasive technologies and the way interactive computing products and software influence our behavior. The founder of the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University, Fogg uses his scientific expertise to help industry innovators get a handle on how human behavior really works. Tiny Habits is his fifth book.

Categories with Tiny Habits

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