"Tiny Habits" by BJ Fogg is a book that focuses on a specific approach to habit formation. I’ve curated a list of His main points and best practices so that you can start implementing "tiny habits" into daily life. Interestingly enough, my app Just a Bite Better might help you to create some tiny habits that you’ll be especially proud of!
The key messages I took away from Fogg include the following:
1. Habits are formed when we repeat a behavior consistently over time. The more frequently we repeat a behavior, the more likely it is to become a habit.
If you start logging your food in Just a Bite Better, you can make it a habit! Once you create the habit of logging, it will be easier to track progress. From there, you can identify trends in your own eating and work on those!
2. To form a new habit, we need to start small and build gradually. By focusing on making a behavior easy and effortless, we can create a "tiny habit" that becomes a stepping stone to bigger changes.
Creating a tiny habit is simple when you pick a goal and stick to it. With Just a Bite Better you can make tiny goals like “have two pieces of fruit a week” and soon enough, you’ll form a “tiny habit” and grow from there.
3. The key to successful habit formation is to celebrate each small success. By recognizing and rewarding ourselves for even the smallest achievements, we can create a positive feedback loop that reinforces our habits and keeps us motivated.
This is where my Week over Week trophies and simple encouraging messages come in handy! You’ll always have me there to support you.
4. We can use the "Tiny Habits" method to break bad habits as well as form new ones. By replacing a bad habit with a tiny habit that is incompatible with the bad habit, we can gradually break the old pattern of behavior.
Overall, "Tiny Habits" provides a simple and practical approach to habit formation that can help people make lasting changes in their lives.
To break a bad habit using the "Tiny Habits" method, you would follow these steps:
1. Identify the bad habit that you want to break. This could be anything from procrastination to overeating to excessive screen time.
If the habit is overeating, we have you covered. Once you start logging food, it might be easier to identify if and when you are overeating. Identifying the habit is a first step and I’ll help from there.
2. Determine the cue or trigger that causes you to engage in the bad habit. This could be a specific time of day, a certain emotion, or a particular situation.
Just a Bite Better allows you to separate meals by breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. This means that you can start to see patterns in your eating and what time of day they seem to occur. This will help find out the cue or trigger.
3. After you encounter the cue for the bad habit, immediately do the tiny habit instead. For example, if you usually reach for an unhealthy snack when you're bored, reach for a healthy one instead.
4. Celebrate each time you successfully complete the tiny habit. This could be as simple as giving yourself a thumbs up or saying "good job" out loud. The goal is to create a positive feedback loop that reinforces the tiny habit and makes it more likely to stick.
You don’t have to celebrate alone, I’ll be there to pat you on the back too!
By repeating this process consistently over time, you can gradually break the bad habit and replace it with a healthy one. It may take some effort and persistence, but with practice, you can successfully change your habits and improve your life. Start creating tiny habits today with Just a Bite Better.
Cheers,
Amanda from JaBB
BJ Fogg: Fogg describes himself as the founder of “the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University.” His aim is to change individual lives by encouraging behavior change. Over the years, Fogg has helped to create new ways to understand behavior and best practices for changing solutions. He calls this system "Behavior Design."
Want to know more about BJ Fogg? Check out https://www.bjfogg.com/about