Concept
Tiny Habits
Tiny Habits means making a new habit so small that it works even on bad days.
- 1
Set up the habit
One question per step: who do you want to be? When and where will you do it? And what is the smallest thing that still counts, say just two cards?
Set up the habit
One question per step: who do you want to be? When and where will you do it? And what is the smallest thing that still counts, say just two cards?
- 2
Get reminded, check it off
At the time you chose, the reminder arrives with your minimum and your place. One tap on “Yes, done”: every check-off is a vote for the person you want to be.
Get reminded, check it off
At the time you chose, the reminder arrives with your minimum and your place. One tap on “Yes, done”: every check-off is a vote for the person you want to be.
- 3
Keep going
The grid shows every day, the phases show the way: building, forming from 7, established from 30, anchored from 66. Skipping once does not break the streak.
Keep going
The grid shows every day, the phases show the way: building, forming from 7, established from 30, anchored from 66. Skipping once does not break the streak.
Imagine you want to read more. Instead of an hour, you aim for a single page. That sounds almost ridiculously small. That is exactly the point: so small that you run out of excuses.
The idea comes from BJ Fogg, who runs the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University, a research group on human behavior. His most famous example is starting to floss with just one single tooth. His book “Tiny Habits” came out in 2019. In it is his simple formula: a behavior happens when wanting to, being able to and a nudge all come together at the same moment.
How much you feel like doing something changes every day. When a task is tiny, you barely need to feel like it to do it anyway. Every time it works, you feel good. That good feeling makes it easier to start again tomorrow, and often you end up doing more all by yourself.
In Mnemorya you can set a smallest step for every habit, for example “just 2 cards”. On hard days, this smallest step counts. That way your habit stays alive, even when the day has nothing else to give.
The research behind it
The studies this method rests on. Each one is verifiable through its DOI — looking them up is very much the point.
The book explains how to start habits tiny, attach them to a fixed moment in your day and link them to a good feeling.
Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Here Fogg describes his model: a behavior only happens when wanting to, being able to and a trigger are all there at the same time.
A behavior model for persuasive design. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Persuasive Technology, 1-7.
doi.org/10.1145/1541948.1541999The article shows doctors how habits form through simple repetition in the same setting and why that helps health.
Making health habitual: the psychology of ‘habit-formation’ and general practice. British Journal of General Practice, 62(605), 664-666.
doi.org/10.3399/bjgp12X659466
Keep watching
See the idea in motion.
Selected videos for going deeper. Each link opens the original creator on YouTube.
