{"id":33952,"date":"2021-05-01T10:10:28","date_gmt":"2021-05-01T14:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=33952"},"modified":"2021-05-08T22:52:12","modified_gmt":"2021-05-09T02:52:12","slug":"behavior-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/behavior-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Behavior Design Is the Key to Kicking Bad Habits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is the Behavior Design approach? Why do we often fail when we try to make behavioral changes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Behavior Design is the process of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/behavioral-patterns-psychology\/\">changing behavior patterns<\/a> based on a scientifically designed approach. And if it doesn&#8217;t work, it doesn&#8217;t mean you failed, it means the approach needs to be redesigned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to learn more about the Behavior Design approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What Is Behavior Design?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of us have tried to make behavior changes in the past. Sometimes we succeed; more often than not, we fail. And we blame ourselves for the failure. But <strong>often <\/strong><strong><em>we <\/em><\/strong><strong>are not the problem. We just haven\u2019t designed the change properly<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve tried and failed to make a change, the Behavior Design approach may be the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Information-Action Fallacy<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Most approaches to behavior change are built on the belief that if people have enough information about <em>why<\/em> they should make a change, they\u2019ll make it easily and immediately. Fogg calls this the \u201cInformation-Action Fallacy\u201d because lasting behavior change is rarely this simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We tend to believe that motivation is the only ingredient in behavior change. We think that if we can just build up our motivation enough, we\u2019ll make the change. <strong>This leads to self-judgment when we fail<\/strong>. We believe that we failed because we lack self-discipline, or we\u2019re weak, or we lack character. This shame stops us from trying again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Behavior Design stops you from getting caught in this cycle<\/strong>. In Behavior Design, we look at behavior patterns scientifically and with curiosity. If you fail to introduce a habit, it\u2019s because the habit is badly designed. Simply redesign it and try again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Positive emotions, rather than negative emotions, are the key<\/strong>. We change best when we feel good. Tiny bursts of celebration help our brains to \u201cwire in\u201d the changes automatically.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The best example of the Behavior Design approach is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/tiny-habits-method\/\">Tiny Habits method<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the Behavior Design approach? Why do we often fail when we try to make behavioral changes? Behavior Design is the process of changing behavior patterns based on a scientifically designed approach. And if it doesn&#8217;t work, it doesn&#8217;t mean you failed, it means the approach needs to be redesigned. Keep reading to learn more about the Behavior Design approach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":34066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,160],"tags":[273],"class_list":["post-33952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-science","tag-tiny-habits","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Behavior Design Is the Key to Kicking Bad Habits - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you tried to change a bad behavior and failed? The problem isn&#039;t you. 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Behavior Design helps you change your behavior scientifically.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/behavior-design\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-01T14:10:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-09T02:52:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/motivational-sign.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1390\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"799\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/behavior-design\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/behavior-design\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\"},\"headline\":\"Behavior Design Is the Key to Kicking Bad Habits\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-01T14:10:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-09T02:52:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/behavior-design\/\"},\"wordCount\":331,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/behavior-design\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/motivational-sign.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Tiny Habits\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Psychology\",\"Science\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/behavior-design\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/behavior-design\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/behavior-design\/\",\"name\":\"Behavior Design Is the Key to Kicking Bad Habits - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/behavior-design\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/behavior-design\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/motivational-sign.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-01T14:10:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-09T02:52:12+00:00\",\"description\":\"Have you tried to change a bad behavior and failed? 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