Most people want some sort of change. They might want to lose weight, gain muscle, eat better, sleep better, you name it, someone wants some change. Previously we came to the conclusion that ultimately most people want change because they want to change the state they’re in. In order to achieve this state change, people need to change their behavior. Everyone has probably attempted some new behavior to get that change, for example working out to lose weight, cutting calories, eating lots of greens, or signing up for a course. But soon enough they stumble and are back at square one, or even worse, they blame themselves for not following through and get in an even more negative state than prior. They might then think that the reason they didn’t succeed with their desired behavior is that it’s not for them, or they can’t do it because they don’t have enough willpower. We get confused because we have all these people saying that we just need to take “massive action”, the problem is that the approach most people take is fundamentally flawed.
Instead of relying solely on motivation to perform a behavior or habit, I’ll show you the equation which governs human behavior. Before that, I’ll explain the two governing forces of all human behavior and how it explains the reason humans do anything. Once we understand why we do what we do I’ll share the equation for how you can make yourself take action and perform a behavior.
The two governing forces of human behavior are pain and pleasure, or pain and gain. As humans, we want to avoid pain and gain pleasure. This holds true to all things we do. Bodybuilders for example have linked more pleasure than pain to working out, or at least more pain to not working out than the pain from working out. While a person who doesn’t workout has linked more pain to working out than the pain from not working out. Of course, pain and pleasure aren’t linked to a single thing, e.g. the workout, it’s linked to everything, the energy you gain long-term, the body you shape, and a multitude of other things. People who are long-term thinkers tend to sacrifice immediate pleasure in the present to greater pleasure in the future. Generally, people will do more to avoid pain than they will to gain pleasure.
Understanding the two forces at play on humans helps understand the equation of human behavior. Behavior happens when motivation, ability, and prompt converge at the same time, B=MAP. This equation determines if we’re going to perform a behavior or not. The model was developed by Stanford behavioral scientist BJ Fogg. Let me explain, behavior is a specific action, e.g. floss a tooth. Motivation is your desire to perform the behavior, e.g. you want clean teeth. Ability is your capacity to do the behavior, e.g. you know how to floss your teeth and you have floss available. Prompt is the cue to do the behavior, e.g. finish brushing your teeth. Following this formula, you will floss after brushing your teeth as long as you want clean teeth, know how to floss, and have floss. This model can be used to perform any behavior.
The key is that your motivation must be high enough and ability easy enough for you to get over the action line. Once you’re above the action line you will perform any behavior when prompted to do so. If you have no motivation to do something you won’t do it no matter how easy it is to perform. The reverse also holds true, if you have lots of motivation but the task is well beyond your current ability you won’t be able to do it. You will only take action when motivation and ability converge above the action line when prompted.
The message that we need to take massive action will only work when our motivation is high enough, the behavior easy enough, and when we know what action it is we need to take. For that reason saying that we need to take massive action is a cheap and long-term ineffective way of sustaining motivation. Instead, make behaviors so small and easy that you barely need motivation, and that way you will take massive action every day all day with ease. If you want help with designing behaviors that are effective, easy, and require little motivation then reach out to me and I’ll help you achieve the success you desire. Until then, I’ll see you in my next post.