My current read, “Tiny Habits” by BJ Fogg, offers some interesting perspective on changing behaviors. Fogg breaks behavior change into three components: Motivation, Ability, and Prompt (MAP model), and posits that motivation is the most difficult and fickle to manage. Instead, Fogg says we should focus on Ability (breaking down a project into more manageable tasks) and Prompts (anchors or time blocks) to drive change. This applies to both promoting new positive behaviors and eliminating existing damaging behaviors.
We often beat ourselves up over procrastinating (lack of motivation) on work that seems overwhelming at first glance. Your office is an absolute mess or your bank accounts haven’t been reconciled in months. We think there is some character defect that prevents us from doing this work. The reality is we are relying on a huge amount of motivation to overcome something we really don’t want to do. We blame ourselves when we really should be recognizing our process is broken. So the key is to break it down - identify a small first step and a time to do it.
I use ten-minute time blocks where I close my door, email, social media sites, and do something. It can be anything! My first action might be just picking up one piece of paper, register where it might go, and putting it back down. Maybe put on some music to lift my spirits. Triumph, celebrate the action!
And then do it again and again. The momentum builds naturally. When my ten minutes is up, I recognize the achievement, set aside another block of time at some point in the not-so-distant future, and move onto something else.
Think tiny steps and keep on taking those tiny steps because they add up. This idea can be applied anywhere and everywhere in your life and is extremely effective in building up positive habits and eliminating negative habits.
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