Dr. BJ Fogg is a behavior scientist, credited for founding the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Tiny Habits and the creator of the Fogg Behavior Model that has helped thousands of people design for behavior change.
In his own words, “When I first teach people my Behavior Model, they are sometimes a little dubious when I tell them this is a universal model. They wonder how one model with just four letters could possibly account for every kind of behavior in every culture.”
But it’s true. The Fogg Behavior Model does work, as vouched for by researchers and psychologists.
If you’re looking to build a new habit or break an old one, these ten quotes by BJ Fogg will change the way you approach the subject. They will help rewire your brain and inspire you to stick to your goals.
1. “In order to design successful habits and change your behaviors, you should do three things. Stop judging yourself. Take your aspirations and break them down into tiny behaviors. Embrace mistakes as discoveries and use them to move forward.”
2. “Practice new habits for one week, revising and rehearsing as needed. If you don’t like a new habit, discard it and add something else.”
3. “We live in an aspiration-driven culture that is rooted in instant gratification. We find it difficult to enact or even accept incremental progress. Which is exactly what you need to cultivate meaningful long-term change.”
4. “There’s nothing wrong with taking bold action. Life and happiness occasionally demand it. But remember that you hear about people making big changes because this is the exception, not the rule. Narrative drama comes from bold action, not from the incremental progress that leads to sustainable success.”
5. “If you pick the right small behavior and sequence it right, then you won’t have to motivate yourself to have it grow. It will just happen naturally, like a good seed planted in a good spot.”
6. “Goals are harmful unless they guide you to make specific behaviors easier to do. Don’t focus your motivation on doing Behavior X. Instead, focus on making Behavior X easier to do.”
7. “People are generally resistant to teaching and training because it requires effort. This clashes with the natural wiring of human adults: We are fundamentally lazy.”
8. “Celebrating small wins gives them something to repattern our life around.”
9. “The quality of our life on planet earth depends on the choices we make every day. Choices about how we spend our time, how we live our lives, and most importantly, how we treat ourselves and others.”
10. “There are only three things we can do that will create lasting change: Have an epiphany, change our environment, or change our habits in tiny ways.”
