{"id":33957,"date":"2021-05-02T22:31:34","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T02:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=33957"},"modified":"2021-05-08T22:49:53","modified_gmt":"2021-05-09T02:49:53","slug":"motivation-graph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/","title":{"rendered":"BJ Fogg’s Motivation Graph: Visualizing Habits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you have the motivation to change<\/a> a habit, then why is still so difficult? How can the motivation graph from Tiny Habits <\/em>help you move past the action line and form a habit<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The motivation graph in this article is a visual representation of why it sometimes seems impossible to break a bad habit or form a better, positive one. When a task is difficult, there are a few methods to move beyond the action line and get it done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue below for an explanation of the motivation graph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Motivation Graph<\/strong>: Explained<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By looking at the \u201cAction Line,\u201d on the motivation graph, we can work out whether or not a behavior will be performed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s plot Motivation and Ability as the axes on a graph. The Action Line is a curve marking the threshold at which an action will be performed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n[image] tinyhabits-actionline.jpg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this graph, the blue star is a behavior that\u2019s very easy to do and for which you have a moderate level of motivation. It sits far above the action line, so when you\u2019re exposed to the prompt you\u2019ll have no problems doing this behavior. The green star is a behavior that\u2019s much more difficult. Though you have almost as much motivation as for the blue star behavior, the high level of difficulty means that even with a well-designed prompt you won\u2019t get above the Action Line and manage to do the behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Move Beyond the Action Line<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ability and Motivation are complementary. If you have more ability (or if the action is easier), you need less motivation to get over the Action Line. <\/strong>If you have less ability, you\u2019ll need more <\/strong>motivation to get over the Action Line. This is why if you\u2019re extremely motivated to do something but the activity is very difficult (such as lifting a car to save someone pinned underneath), you still have a chance of getting over the Action Line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a behavior is currently below the Action Line, how can you lift it above the curve? You can target any of M (Motivation), A (Action), or P (Prompt).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If motivation isn\u2019t going to change, target A or P.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, housework in a shared household is a common point of contention. Here\u2019s one problem that arose in Dr. BJ Fogg\u2019s household. His partner wanted him to wipe down the shower every time he used it, but the habit just wasn\u2019t sticking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fogg analyzed M, A, and P. There was motivation (a shared desire for a clean shower) and a clear prompt (turning off the water), but the behavior wasn\u2019t happening. Why? He realized that he simply didn\u2019t understand what \u201cwipe down\u201d meant in this context. With what? How?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So he asked his partner to show him how to do it. After his partner had demonstrated exactly what to do, Fogg\u2019s ability increased, pushing the behavior over the Action Line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Applying the Concepts <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Fogg Behavior Model<\/a> is about design, not about character judgment. <\/strong>Notice that there\u2019s no \u201cself-discipline\u201d or \u201cmoral fortitude\u201d axis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example: Katie\u2019s social media habit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can see the Action Line at work in the situation of Katie, a successful executive. Katie had one troublesome habit that consistently fell above the Action Line: scrolling through social media on her phone after her alarm went off at 4:30 am, not leaving her enough time to go to the gym.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To conquer this social media habit, Katie examined M, A, and P in turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Her <\/strong>motivation was to stay in touch with family and friends. Knowing that this motivation would be hard to change, she moved on to Ability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Scrolling through social media in bed is incredibly easy, so there were opportunities here to make it harder. Katie experimented with several options, eventually finding that keeping her phone in the kitchen overnight made the behavior hard enough that she wasn\u2019t tempted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* As the prompt for this behavior was the phone itself, putting the phone in the kitchen also removed the prompt. Katie bought an alarm clock for her bedroom, which woke her up without the temptation of social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After this adjustment, Katie successfully banished the bad habit and started going to the gym immediately after she woke up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katie\u2019s experience exemplifies many of the specific Behavior Design<\/a> techniques.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have the motivation to change a habit, then why is still so difficult? How can the motivation graph from Tiny Habits help you move past the action line and form a habit? The motivation graph in this article is a visual representation of why it sometimes seems impossible to break a bad habit or form a better, positive one. When a task is difficult, there are a few methods to move beyond the action line and get it done. Continue below for an explanation of the motivation graph.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":34083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,9,43],"tags":[273],"class_list":["post-33957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motivation","category-psychology","category-self-improvement","tag-tiny-habits","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nBJ Fogg's Motivation Graph: Visualizing Habits - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When a task is difficult, there are a few methods you can use for a breakthrough. The motivation graph helps you see how to get it done.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BJ Fogg's Motivation Graph: Visualizing Habits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When a task is difficult, there are a few methods you can use for a breakthrough. The motivation graph helps you see how to get it done.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-03T02:31:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-09T02:49:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/exercise.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1127\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"703\" \/>\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=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\"},\"headline\":\"BJ Fogg’s Motivation Graph: Visualizing Habits\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-03T02:31:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-09T02:49:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/\"},\"wordCount\":741,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/exercise.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Tiny Habits\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Motivation\",\"Psychology\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/\",\"name\":\"BJ Fogg's Motivation Graph: Visualizing Habits - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/exercise.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-03T02:31:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-09T02:49:53+00:00\",\"description\":\"When a task is difficult, there are a few methods you can use for a breakthrough. The motivation graph helps you see how to get it done.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/exercise.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/exercise.jpg\",\"width\":1127,\"height\":703},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BJ Fogg’s Motivation Graph: Visualizing Habits\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\",\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hannah Aster\"},\"description\":\"Hannah is a seasoned writer and editor who started her journey with Shortform nearly five years ago. She grew up reading mostly fiction books but transitioned to non-fiction writing when she started her travel website in 2018. When she's not writing or traveling, you can find Hannah working on home reno projects, crafting, or taking care of plants.\",\"knowsAbout\":[\"Graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English and minors in professional and creative writing\"],\"jobTitle\":\"SEO Team Lead\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/hannah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BJ Fogg's Motivation Graph: Visualizing Habits - Shortform Books","description":"When a task is difficult, there are a few methods you can use for a breakthrough. The motivation graph helps you see how to get it done.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BJ Fogg's Motivation Graph: Visualizing Habits","og_description":"When a task is difficult, there are a few methods you can use for a breakthrough. The motivation graph helps you see how to get it done.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-05-03T02:31:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-05-09T02:49:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1127,"height":703,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/exercise.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hannah Aster","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hannah Aster","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/"},"author":{"name":"Hannah Aster","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f"},"headline":"BJ Fogg’s Motivation Graph: Visualizing Habits","datePublished":"2021-05-03T02:31:34+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-09T02:49:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/"},"wordCount":741,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/exercise.jpg","keywords":["Tiny Habits"],"articleSection":["Motivation","Psychology","Self-Improvement"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/","name":"BJ Fogg's Motivation Graph: Visualizing Habits - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/exercise.jpg","datePublished":"2021-05-03T02:31:34+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-09T02:49:53+00:00","description":"When a task is difficult, there are a few methods you can use for a breakthrough. The motivation graph helps you see how to get it done.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/exercise.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/exercise.jpg","width":1127,"height":703},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/motivation-graph\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BJ Fogg’s Motivation Graph: Visualizing Habits"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f","name":"Hannah Aster","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hannah Aster"},"description":"Hannah is a seasoned writer and editor who started her journey with Shortform nearly five years ago. She grew up reading mostly fiction books but transitioned to non-fiction writing when she started her travel website in 2018. When she's not writing or traveling, you can find Hannah working on home reno projects, crafting, or taking care of plants.","knowsAbout":["Graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English and minors in professional and creative writing"],"jobTitle":"SEO Team Lead","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/hannah\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/exercise.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33957"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34572,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33957\/revisions\/34572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}