#86 BJ Fogg: The Science of Lasting Change
The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish
Farnam Street
4.7 • 2.9K Ratings
🗓️ 23 June 2020
⏱️ 68 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Stanford behavior scientist BJ Fogg reveals why everything you know about habits is wrong – and the surprising truth about how they form.
Fogg shares his groundbreaking research, showing that emotions, not repetition, create lasting habits. Drawing from over a decade of research at Stanford's Behavior Design Lab, he explains his proven three-phase system for breaking hard-to-change behaviors, how to harness your environment to make change effortless, and why tiny actions lead to remarkable transformation.
You'll learn why motivation isn't the key to change, how to redesign your environment for automatic success (including his ingenious "super fridge" method), and the scientific way to make or break any habit in just 5 days. Whether you're trying to build better habits or break challenging ones, this conversation provides an evidence-based blueprint for lasting personal change.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You make these small changes and it changes how you think about yourself. |
| 0:04.1 | It changes your self-talk. |
| 0:05.7 | It changes your relationship with emotions. |
| 0:08.1 | So you're more inclined to embrace positive emotions and not let the negative emotions get you down. |
| 0:13.6 | In some ways, I'm getting chills because that is such, to me, that is just, I'm still fascinated with how that works. |
| 0:36.5 | Hello and welcome. I'm Shane Parrish, and you're listening to the Knowledge Project, a podcast dedicated to mastering the best of what other people have already figured out. |
| 0:44.9 | This podcast in our website, FS.Blog, help you better understand yourself and the world around you by exploring the methods, ideas, and mental models from some of the most incredible |
| 0:54.7 | people in the world. If you enjoy this podcast, we've created a premium version that brings |
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| 1:03.7 | transcripts, and so much more. If you want to learn more now, head on over to fs.blog slash |
| 1:08.6 | podcast or check the show notes for a link. |
| 1:15.7 | Today I'm talking with BJ Fogg, who founded the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University. |
| 1:19.4 | In addition to his research, he also created the Tiny Habits Academy. |
| 1:25.1 | This episode is, you guessed it, all about habits, how we make them, how we break them, |
| 1:28.6 | how emotions and story impact them, and what motivates us. |
| 1:31.7 | It's time to listen and learn. |
| 1:40.1 | How did you get interested in habits? |
| 1:43.1 | Oh, well, it probably goes back to my childhood. I grew up in a culture that was all about |
| 1:46.2 | changing your behavior, optimizing your life, and habits to do and habits not to do. |
| 1:53.0 | I was raised Mormon in California, and within that religion, you know, you can't smoke, |
| 1:58.6 | you can't drink, and you're supposed to study the scriptures |
| 2:01.7 | and pray and so on. So I think I grew up with a lot of attention around habits. And then later, |
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