# Fogg Behavior Model
- Introduced to me by [[M. B.]], who shared https://www.deprocrastination.co/blog/how-to-stop-procrastinating-by-using-the-fogg-behavior-model
- **Behaviour = Motivation + Ability + Trigger.** Missing any of the three can cause [[procrastination]]; a failure to reach a planned behaviour.
- **Motivation**
    - Motivation must be **built**.
    - Motivation is **felt** [[qualia]] when we feel how an action is meaningful or valuable and we believe we can take it.
    - **Remind yourself of the why**. Try to remember in vivid detail why you thought you needed to do it.
    - Try to link the task to a personal goal that you want to achieve. 
        - "Write a thesis" -> "Write a thesis to deepen your understanding of a subject and get recognized by others in your field."
- **Ability**
    - When everything seems hard, it's easy to succumb to procrastination. Email is (boring but) easier than work. But procrastinating won't make task easier; perhaps it'll achieve the opposite.
    - **Focus on small steps to manage difficulty**. Break it down. How is often not obvious. Identify the distinct parts that form the whole.
        - "Create a presentation" -> research topic + find images + create slides + rehearse.
    - **Create a simple [[timeline]]**
        - Start with the due date.
        - Go back day by day, or week by week, and write down what you'd like to have done by then, until you arrive at today.
        - Put the timeline in full view.
        - Start working on the first item.
        - "Deliver a presentation" -> Day 10 rehearse and present; Day 9 list sources and add finishing touches, ..., Day 1 make a list of at least 10 articles and resources to use.
- **Trigger**
    - Sport coaches motivate, cultivate ability, and **give triggers**. **Modern work often doesn't have built-in [[triggers]]**.
    - **You need to self-trigger.** Often we just leave this to circumstance; the only default circumstance in most projects is the **deadline**. So the deadline becomes the only trigger we obey.
    - **Add triggers.** The key to an effective trigger is a sense of "I'm supposed to be doing this, right now."
        - **Create a cue**.
            - When you sit down to work, give yourself 5-15 minutes to decide which task to start with. If you don't know which one you should take after the time expires, choose at random. Then **start**.
            - At the end of one work day, determine where you want to start the next day and **put it in your calendar.**
            - **Be creative**: leave things on your desk that serve as cues to start work on a project -- meaning by default sitting down and deciding which task to start with.
        - **Define a specific task to do, at a specific place, at a specific moment in time -- and make sure you can't miss the cue.**
- **Build up motivation by finding meaning. Break down complex tasks and plan them in a timeline. Define concrete triggers that will help you start working.**