Tiny Habits: How Lowering Your Expectations Can Lead to Change

The New Year is right around the corner. Many take this opportunity to set a big, hairy goal to work on their health, professional development, or relationships. These goals can look like losing 20 pounds by year-end or read 3 new books a month. This renewed commitment to a goal is why gyms see a beginning of the year spike in new memberships. How long does this determination last? 12 days! A study conducted by Strava reported that most people dropped their resolutions by January 12. With this underwhelming statistic, how do people make big changes in their lives? BJ Fogg, a behavioral scientist at Stanford University, posits that we should lower our standards and start with tiny habits to create a domino effect of change.

Author BJ Fogg wrote the book, Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything to explain the key ingredients needed to create lasting change: motivation, ability, and prompt. Motivation is the engine; it is the excitement that urges you to act. As you can imagine, motivation is often highest at the beginning when you start with a fresh slate. The less motivation needed to complete a task, the easier it is to add to our regularly scheduled routine. Identifying your “why” may bolster your motivation. The second ingredient is the ability to accomplish the behavior. Like a SMART performance goal, the change must be achievable with your current skills. And the final ingredient is a prompt. Think of this as the green light to go. Putting these three ingredients together creates a recipe for behavior change!

Often, new habits are not successful because you set your sights too high. Fogg recommends setting bite-sized goals that build competence and lead to more positive internal dialogue. This is good news because our internal narrator is usually piqued by what we do wrong, rather than what we do right. When you institute a small habit, you increase the number of opportunities to celebrate your successes.

Let’s look at a small change in action. You want to offer more positive feedback to your team. You decide you will start your day by sending a brief thank you for a job well done the day before to one team member. Nothing fancy, just a simple IM or email. Your prompt is turning on your computer in the morning (something you already do!). You collect small wins quickly since this task is a light lift. Your internal dialogue changes from “I am bad at giving feedback” to something like “I am the type of person who regularly offers gratitude.” Over time, this positive acknowledgement leads to more motivation to continue the practice and the cycle advances.

Contrary to popular belief, setting a new goal at work or home doesn’t have to be complicated. Research shows that “baby steps” may be most effective when trying to create a new routine. Tiny habits can accumulate to meaningful change. So, the next time you are tempted to institute a major life change, pull back the reins and start small.

^{SOURCE: United Benefit Advisors (UBA)}