The 21 Day Habit Myth. My Interview With BJ Fogg

WRITTEN by ADAM WAYNE - 2 MINUTE READ

WRITTEN by ADAM WAYNE - 2 MINUTE READ

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Dr. BJ Fogg is the New York Times bestselling author of the book Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything. His mission is to “teach good people how behavior works so they can create products & services that benefit everyday people around the world.”

For more, check out BJFogg.com.

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BJ is a Stanford Behavior Scientist and runs the Behavior Design Lab
Have you heard it takes 21 days to create a habit? One reference to it comes from Plastic Surgeon Dr. Maxwell Maltz who published in his 1960 book “Psycho-Cybernetics” where Dr. Maltz said that his patients took 21 days to recognize his/her new look. In a second instance, researchers at the University College of London found that in 2009 it took between 18 and 254 days.
BJ has found that with his “Tiny Habit” method habits can be created within about 5 days. Try it for yourself for free by clicking here
Not sure where to start? Check out his book Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything
If you want to get into better shape, start by doing 1 (yes, 1) pushup. Not 20.
A behavior happens when motivation, ability and a prompt happen at the same time. This formula comes from BJ’s Behavior Model
Celebration is really important to making a habit stick and seems to be the part that we resist doing
“Change leads to change. Success leads to success. Naturally start doing other similar behaviors”
“Help people do what they already what want to do and feel successful“
“Habit design is a skill“
“Remember that simplicity changes behavior“
What is a pivot? BJ defines them in 2 ways: 1) from one aspiration to another. For example, do you want a high paying career or to spend time people that you love and creating things of value. 2) from one behavior to another. For example, if your aspiration is to be more in the present moment you may go to yoga. But since COVID-19, maybe you can’t go to yoga. What behavior can you do to replace that?
What is BJ excited about? How have people’s aspirations shifted from what it was before the COVID-19 virus to now? Are people’s aspirations still to get the nice car, high paying job, etc?
BJ sees an opportunity to create a technology that would help prioritize relationships.