B.J. Fogg

Fogg's contribution to the growing genre of habits books is excellent. If I had to choose between this book and "Atomic Habits," it would be a tough choice! The best part about Fogg's book is that he takes a scientific approach to habit formation. At the same time, he also makes the book incredibly accessible and practical. It is a rare feat to combine advice with science level research. If you take just one tip from this review, it is this - make your habits smaller. Like "absurdly tiny" show more habits (i.e. start your flossing habit with "floss one tooth" to start building the habit). show less

It seems such a ridiculous concept, making habits tiny, as tiny as doing two pushups, and tying that to another already existing habit- like, after I brush my teeth, I’ll do two push ups, but this book is filled with excellent, do-able steps to changing your life.
I’ve lived with depression for years, and one thing that has taught me is to set tiny goals for things, succeed at them, and feel better. Then, once you feel better, you can stretch the goal, or add another one.
This book was a show more good reminder of what I’d learned. In addition to discussion about how to start healthy habits, the author also takes you through a cloud-based problem solving technique where you brainstorm solutions and then sort them into piles according to how likely you are to do them, how difficult they are, etc. It’s a great way to figure out how to game your way into the behaviours you want.
The last part of the book is about reducing “bad” behaviours that have become habits. All good stuff, an easy read, and a plan that is actually something that might work.
I’m off to set up some healthier habits. I recommend this book if you are feeling stuck or just tired of trying. I feel perked right up to know I only need to eat one more vegetable a day….;-) show less

Stanford University behaviorist BJ Fogg writes the best book on understanding how to create and nurture habits in a way that won't feel forced and won't fade after a few days (or after New Years' wears off).

Emphasizing that motivation is the most ephemeral way of actually building and sticking with a habit, the book lays out a simple overall pattern of understanding the relationship between ability, motivation, and things that cue us to engage in a behavior, and "hacking" those parameters show more to put in a tiny (homeopathic, even), amount of a habit not dependent on how motivated or inspired you are, or how much time you happen to have on any given day, and creating the conditions for it to blossom into a full habit.

Later chapters on how to unravel "bad" habits reverse the psychology.

Yours truly, who started reading books and taking classes on time management at 21 and has read a TON of books on habits through the years, can attest that this is by far the best book on the subject, backed by the author's field-tested experience with over 60,000 people. show less

As another reader-reviewer wrote, this book is fine. I realized about halfway through that I'd already read this a couple years back. It's similar to Atomic Habits and a few others that take a micro step approach to making (or breaking) habits. It's very accessible and concrete behavioral change that's easy to incorporate into daily practice and adapt. I liked the idea of small 'recipes' even if I found the idea familiar.

As with a lot of books like this that are teaching a framework for show more behavioral change, this can get repetitive. In good news, it's easy to quickly glean the kernels you need.

The small win approach that Tiny Habits takes is worth a try for those who have trouble getting a habit change to stick. show less