Unmotivated today? Good news: it won't stop you from taking action!

According to B.J. Fogg, a behavioral scientist at Stanford University and founder of the Behavior Design Lab, a lack of motivation is not a barrier to action..

Deconstructing the myth: motivation is not the only guarantor of action...

Generally, we think that it is because we are motivated that we take action. However, in his book Tiny Habits (2019), B.J. Fogg explains to us that motivation is a complex psychological force, which is not the only one responsible for taking action.

The motivation is Powerful, allowing us to project ourselves into the future, to choose our goals (identify the reasons that push us to want act) but also unreliable. Indeed, motivation works hand in hand with the emotional system: it is therefore very sensitive to the context, which makes it fluctuating and therefore not very predictable...

One day, we are infinitely motivated to take action; the next day (or even a few hours later), not at all.

How can we ensure the transition to action, taking into account the variations in our motivation?

We would be in a position to take action when three ingredients are combined at the same time: (1) motivation, (2) feeling of capacity and (3) triggers.

Behavior = Motivation + Ability + Prompt

In other words, for a behavior to occur, you would have to be motivated by the action, consider yourself capable of carrying it out and be prompted to do so (by an internal trigger: a thought, or external: a reminder on your phone, a specific situation...).

Good news: according to B.J. Fogg, it is possible to take action with a low level of motivation, by insisting on the other 2 variables in the equation: on the one hand, you must make the action a simple behavior to increase the feeling of capacity (the Ability variable) and on the other hand, ensure that the trigger (the Prompts variable) does not fail and does cause the action.

#Modifier the feeling of capacity: making action a simple behavior

With the general idea that the more ambitious a behavior is, the less likely we are to achieve it, B.J. Fogg encourages us to simplify as much as possible the new behaviors we want to implement. According to him, the feeling of ability (Ability in B = MAP) is the most reliable variable in the equation.

First of all, we must ask ourselves why the new behavior, which is so difficult to achieve, is too ambitious and identify the (s) brakes : what are the reason (s) that prevent individuals from taking action?

Questions to ask yourself: is the behavior taking too long? Is it too expensive? Does it require too much physical or mental effort? Is it too difficult to incorporate the new behavior into your current practices (routine)?

Next, B.J. Fogg recommends making the new behavior “something tiny” by focusing on the initial action, i.e. on the first behavior that will allow you to take action (Starter Step) and to adapt the sequel. For example, to build your “Elevator Pitch”, you would have to commence by identifying its 3 main responsibilities.

#Bien choose the trigger: plan precisely where, when and how to take action

Attention: no action is ever carried out without a trigger (the Prompt of B=MAP is fundamental in the transition to action)! Choosing the trigger is therefore an essential step. Three types of triggers can be used:

1. Internal triggers (Person Prompt), which come from the person (“remember...”). However, everyone knows that their memory is not infallible, that we naturally tend to forget things (and that's normal!). This solution therefore appears to be risky, in the sense that, even if you have succeeded in simplifying a new behavior as much as possible, if you Forget to carry it out, you miss the passage to action (the trigger will have failed here).
2. Triggers from the environment (Context prompt), which come from the context (post-it notes on the computer screen, alarm on your phone or notifications, reminder from a friend...). Theoretically, this solution is not too bad: any reminder should be able to capture your attention, and thus trigger action, however simple it may be. However, this type of trigger is not always effective because we are constantly solicited by our environment (and by our smartphone: emails, SMS, calendar notifications...). Adding reminders can become stressful, causing us to fall into cognitive overload that doesn't leave us the space available to deal with these new triggers, which are then likely to fail.
3. Action triggers (Prompt action). The idea is to think about where and when you want to carry out the new behavior and thus determine the “conditions” under which the transition to action will take place. For example: if I have a meeting to facilitate with my team (condition), then I take 10 minutes before to warm up my voice (new behavior). It is this solution that should be preferred to trigger the transition to action.

B.J. Fogg insists on the effectiveness of using a current habit, which is one of our own behaviors, like”anchor” stable and solid to which we will attach the new action, to create a lasting and automatic trigger. For example: in the morning, when I arrive at the office and before opening my emails (the condition: a habit that I perform every day), I list my 3 main goals for the day (new behavior).

Take Home Message : motivation is not the only guarantee of action! To encourage new behavior, you need to simplify the action as much as possible and choose the trigger carefully.

It can be difficult to follow this method on your own, which is why some specialized devices can help you. This is the case with Fifty, an e-doing tool that helps employees take action as part of a transformation or after training. The solution recommends personalized micro-actions to be carried out in the field, helps to carry them out using behavioral sciences (the Nudge) and measures change. Stop talking, start doing!



Fogg, B.J. (2019). Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.