202409301600 Status: #idea Tags: #learning_theory #habits #behavioral_design # Fogg Behavior Model ![[Pasted image 20240930160002.png]] Basically you want to read the chart as follows: if your motivation is sufficiently high and the task is sufficiently easy, then a prompt to do that task will be successful. We can see the threshold value at the action line. **Any combination of motivation & ability that lies above the action line primes us to respond successfully to the prompt. Any combination below it will ensure that the prompt doesn't succeed** What this tells us is that there are 3 components to a behavior: our motivation, our ability to complete the task, and a prompt. Motivation is the most fickle of the 3, so it is the last one that we should attempt to alter. Instead, let us focus on ability and prompt If we want to make a task more likely to be completed, we can try increasing our ability to complete it. For example, if I keep my book right next to my bed, it increases my ability to read in the morning when I wake up. All I have to do is reach over to my nightstand. If I want to make a task LESS likely to be completed, we can do the opposite and DECREASE our ability to complete it. For example, if I want to scroll on my phone less in bed, I could charge my phone across the room instead of next to my bed The same kind of logic applies to prompts. If I want to make a behavior more automatic, I need to make sure that I am applying a consistent and simple prompt. For example, a reminder on your phone or an alarm is extremely consistent and simple to set up. On the flip side, if I want to stop a behavior, I can try removing the prompt. For example, if you notice that whenever you go into the kitchen between meals, you grab a snack, you could try avoiding the kitchen more between your meals. This removes the prompt of "I'm in the kitchen", which prompts the behavior "grab a snack" After fiddling with these two parameters, we can tackle motivation. This one is the toughest to change, but there are some ways we can manipulate. For example, if there is a part of the behavior/task you can tweak that gives you the same outcome you desire. For example, if you want to get fit but hate working out alone, your motivation to go on a solo run might be fairly low. If you join a running club or spin class, this might significantly increase your motivation while still giving you the desired outcome of: get fit. Thus, you have altered a piece of the behavior which impacts your motivation without changing the goal of your behavior or action [[Advantages of the formulaic approach to behavioral design]] --- # References [[Tiny habits_ + the small changes that change everything]]