Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg

How often have we set lofty goals, resolutions, etc. and failed to achieve them? And what can we do to improve our chances of succeeding in achieving said goals and resolutions?
“Tiny Habits” by BJ Fogg provides a blueprint on how to form new positive habits, get rid of old negative ones and through this ultimately attain the results that we seek. 
    In this book BJ Fogg, founder and director of the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University, shares his extensive research on habits and human behavior. The Fogg Behavior Model outlined in the book is based on principles such as simplification, motivation and the role that emotion plays in creating sticky habits. These principles are the foundation for the following three steps needed to start and keep good habits:

• Step 1: Set a Tiny Habit
• Basically set a much simpler, less complicated version of your desired habit, one that requires far less effort than the desired final habit. This less complicated version would most likely be easier for you to achieve and with each milestone of achievement you build one of the main pillars of habit stickiness, consistency. Once consistency is established you can then work on gradually increasing the habits complexity until the final desired habit goal is attained. For example if you goal is to develop a daily habit of doing 100 pushups you can start by setting a tiny habit of doing 10 pushups daily once you fill comfortable doing the tiny habit, then gradually increase the number of pushups till you are eventually doing a 100 daily. As the saying goes "Complexity is the enemy of execution." So start simple, start tiny and then build from there.

• Step 2: Set an Anchor Moment 
• This moment is an existing event that is already part of your routine e.g. brushing your teeth, the daily 12 o'clock chime. This “Anchor Moment” will serve as the catalyst that prompts  you to perform the habit and having it takes the burden of squeezing the habit into your current schedule, off your shoulders. 

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• Step 3: Set a Celebration/Reward for accomplishing the habit
• The celebration may be as simple as a smile, a pat on the back or verbal positive self talk for your achievement. Having a celebration/reward makes the accomplishing the habit fun, thereby increasing the likelihood of it being accomplished.

         As the BJ Fogg puts it in this book, to be successful at creating a sticky habit “make it easy, make it fit your life, and make it rewarding.” This book is made up of a lot of brilliant bits of advice, which if adopted may prove to be just what we need to build new habits and through them accomplish goals that previously seemed lofty and difficult to achieve. 

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