BJ Fogg is a behavior scientist and is known for ‘BJ Fogg’s behavioral model’. The model is pretty simple to understand and yet one of the most mind blowing things I’ve come across. Simply put, any behavior happens when three things come together at any moment. The three things are motivation, ability and prompt.

B : M.A.P

behavior: motivation, ability, prompt.

Let me give you an example. If a phone rings(prompt) AND you are not in a meeting(ability) AND you don’t mind talking to the person on the other end(motivation), then your behaviour will be that you will answer the call. Even if one of these things were not present (say, you were in a meeting, or it’s a call from some sales guy) then you would have not picked the call.

You can see this very much in social media apps.

Notification is the prompt (ting 🎵)
You always have the phone next to you, so you have the ability 📲.
Your need to know who liked your photo, or who commented on your post, or messaged you on whatsapp etc is the motivation. 👀
When there is all three, you cannot help but behave in the way the app expects you to - to pick the phone, tap on the notification and go to that app. If you don’t want your actions to be dictated by an app, then read the post on how to reduce phone distractions.

You can use this same formula to change you behaviour for the better. Say you want to start exercising from tomorrow.

you can set up a reminder on a TODO app (prompt)
keep all the equipment necessary - no other engagements on that time slot, shorts, dumbbells, mat, shoes etc. (ability)
Be sure of why you want to exercise. (motive).

Let me know if you used this to achieve any particular behaviour, what worked and what did not work.

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Joe Jayanth

Have you heard of BJ Fogg?