It’s written in the typical self-help style with lots of anecdotes and a fair bit of repetition.

It’s quite a long book (270 pages, but very small typeface). My copy now has lots of post-it notes sticking out of it. There are lots of exercises at the end of each chapter and appendices with ideas and further resources. It’s more of a workbook, and it is intended that you should implement some changes as you go along. This is not a book to be read straight through. I can really identify with this last one – I really want to drink more water, but I just forget! There is an underpinning equation to all of this: B = M A P (Behaviour = Motivation, Ability, Prompt). The basic premise of the tiny habits approach is based on the science of psychology: first it’s about finding the motivational sweet spot of a habit (too many of us seem to set ourselves habits that we don’t really want to do, like go to the gym every day) second, it’s about designing behaviour changes that we are actually able to implement (within our means, doable in our daily lives) thirdly, it’s about finding ways to remember to do the things we want to do.

There is a website to accompany the book,, which includes some free resources and, as you might expect, options to join mailing lists and paid-for courses.

I like the idea of starting small – this seemed achievable. Small, incremental changes that don’t look that hard to do, but which I have singularly failed to implement in my life to date. Nothing too earth-shattering, mainly things like drinking more water, practicing piano daily or writing something (anything!) each day.

I generally make a conscious choice to not set myself any, in the firm belief that I’m setting myself up to fail! The opening of a new calendar or diary has the powerful effect of making me want to do or change something, however! Instead of resolutions I thought about some new habits I would like to adopt into my life. I picked up on this when I was thinking about why so many of us find new year resolutions so difficult to keep. First book of my non-fiction reading challenge complete!įor January, I set myself a relatively easy book, Stanford academic BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits: Why starting small makes lasting change easy.

Book tiny habits