Relying on willpower and attempting big leaps aren’t helpful in changing behavior. Neither is ignoring how environment shapes behavior, which is #3 on Fogg’s list of mistakes in behavior change.
Want to change your life? Then change your context.
It can take lots of forms.
Most of us are creatures of routine. Even if we enjoy new things, part of us craves the safety of a familiar context. And familiarity blinds us.
A few days ago, I listed 10 big mistakes that people make in trying to change behavior. Here’s #2: attempting big leaps instead of baby steps.
The antidote? Seek tiny wins, one after another, according to the folks at B. J. Fogg’s Persuasive Technology Lab.
They’re right, in more ways than one.
We’ve heard for years about the power of big audacious goals, sweeping visions, and ‘breakthrough’ leaps. But we live life in moments, one after another. Only in retrospect, when we string those moments and events together, do we see patterns and create narratives to explain what happened.
What if we could capture and study all those little moments? What might we learn that’s different?
It shows up in nature 
and in art
… in everyday walks of life
and in exotic places.
It’s just a pattern with no gaps or overlaps … from the Latin tessela, which means “small square.” Think chickenwire or patchwork quilts. Tesselations.
Language. It’s almost as fascinating as the world it represents.
Ever put off scary or unpleasant things until you’re better equipped to handle them, only to find you’re never quite there? If yes, then consider Kelly McGonigal’s experience. She’s a Stanford meditation and yoga teacher. As she says, our imagined self and the “magic time known as not-now” never arrive. She delayed the removal of her wisdom teeth for 14 years [no pun intended, I’m sure]. Read her story.
What and for how long have you been delaying?