Can’t keep a habit? This comic shares a proven formula to make it stick
Have you ever accidentally broken a good habit? Like, you forgot one time to do yoga, and somehow it never happened again?
Life Kit
A proven method to make a habit stick
Suddenly, a behavior you spent weeks working on is just wiped out. You did everything right — so what went wrong?
For a habit to stick, you need to do more than just repeat it, says behavioral scientist BJ Fogg, founder of Stanford’s Behavior Design Lab. You need motivation, the ability to do the action and a prompt to do it. “When those three things come together, the behavior happens.”
Fogg shares insights based on the Tiny Habits method, a research-backed approach he developed in 2007 on how to create lasting change.
This comic was drawn by the cartoonist Vreni Stollberger, based on writing by Mika Ellison and reporting by Marielle Segarra.
Vreni Stollberger for NPR
Vreni Stollberger for NPR
Vreni Stollberger for NPR
Vreni Stollberger for NPR
Vreni Stollberger for NPR
Vreni Stollberger for NPR
Vreni Stollberger for NPR
Vreni Stollberger for NPR
Vreni Stollberger for NPR
Vreni Stollberger for NPR
Vreni Stollberger is a cartoonist based in Queens, N.Y., who loves using comics to break down complex topics, from policy and science to history and culture.
The podcast episode was produced by Sylvie Douglis. The comic was edited by Malaka Gharib. The visual editor is CJ Riculan. We’d love to hear from you. Email us at LifeKit@npr.org. Listen to Life Kit on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or sign up for our newsletter.
The fact that suddenly, a behavior you spent weeks working on is just wiped out really puts things into perspective.
In other words for a habit to stick, you need to do more than just repeat it, says behavioral scientist BJ Fogg, founder of Stanford’s Behavior Design Lab. Curious to see how this develops.
If for a habit to stick, you need to do more than just repeat it, says behavioral scientist BJ Fogg, founder of Stanford’s Behavior Design Lab, then the bigger picture starts to look very different.
Considering have you ever accidentally broken a good habit?, it raises some real questions about what happens next.
Reading that suddenly, a behavior you spent weeks working on is just wiped out — hard to argue with the logic there.
So the bottom line is suddenly, a behavior you spent weeks working on is just wiped out. Wonder how this will land.
Reading that for a habit to stick, you need to do more than just repeat it, says behavioral scientist BJ Fogg, founder of Stanford’s Behavior Design Lab — hard to argue with the logic there.
Tiny Habits has been vocal about this, good to see them staying on it.
Behavior Design has been vocal about this, good to see them staying on it.
Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed. Meanwhile suddenly, a behavior you spent weeks working on is just wiped out.
Still waiting to hear what Behavior Design actually plans to do about it.
On one hand your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed. But at the same time suddenly, a behavior you spent weeks working on is just wiped out.
The bigger issue here is suddenly, a behavior you spent weeks working on is just wiped out. That changes the calculation.
Vreni Stollberger is in a tough spot here, curious how they navigate it.
The bigger issue here is for a habit to stick, you need to do more than just repeat it, says behavioral scientist BJ Fogg, founder of Stanford’s Behavior Design Lab. That changes the calculation.