How does a Habit Form?Going to a Talk every Wednesday at 9pm

By Loreanne Garcia

The Habit: Going to a “talk” every Wednesday at 9pm

What is Talk 10?

One Business School student shares his/her life experience every Wednesday in a house in Redwood city. It is a very personal talk. We call it Talk 10. Going to talk 10 has become a habit for many Business School Students.

Why is this interesting for me?

I want to understand how you can get people to go somewhere on a regular basis. The idea is to later use what I learned to create the habit if going to the gym

How does that habit form?The Fogg Behavior Grid

Dot

Behavior

Done one-time

First week at business school, you get an invitation to go listen to a classmate’s talk. Its easy to support him/her: you just need to walk down the stairs and stay from 30min to 1 hr – its in the b-school dorm. You like the talk

Span

Behavior

Has a duration

GreenBehavior

New behavior that is unfamiliar

BlueBehavior

Do Familiar behavior

Purple

Behavior

Increase intensity

Next week, you see the invite but decide that you don’t have time to go. The following week, your friend gives a talk, so you must go.

You enjoy the talk, see your friends and feel closer to your classmates

You start going every other week. Then your friends plan the evening around it so you often walk over to the talk with them.

Like always, you enjoy the experience

You see your calendar reminder and you go to

the talk. You do this until you graduate from

business school

Understanding how it happens using The Fogg Behavior Model

High Motivation

Low Motivation

Low Ability

High Ability

Core Motivators:

Acceptance: support the person giving the talk; being seen by other classmates there

Hope: be inspired by the stories; feeling more connected to others

Simplicity:

It only takes one hour per week, it is free and it implies that you are adjusting to social norms. However, you need to drive/walk which cuts your evening plans.

Behavior Triggers:

Spark: meeting request for a recurring event on our calendar, three emails a week announcing who will give the talk Signal: on Wednesday at 8:45 pm you get a reminder on your calendar

Others: your friends go, so you plan the evening around it