Motivation and habit
Fogg behaviour model
Also called B=MAP, Spark effect
A behaviour happens when motivation, ability and a prompt come together at the same moment. Make the action easier before trying to motivate more.
The model says behaviour equals motivation times ability, at the moment of a prompt. If people aren't doing something, either they don't want to enough, it's too hard, or nothing reminded them at the right time.
Prompts come in three kinds: a spark, which adds motivation when people have the ability; a facilitator, which makes it easier when they're motivated; and a signal, a plain reminder when they have both. Making the action smaller is usually the cheapest fix.
In practice
A meditation app that asks for one minute a day, prompted at a time people choose, tends to get more daily use than one asking for twenty minutes.
Common mistake
Throwing more motivation at a behaviour that's simply too hard. Better messages rarely fix a form with fifteen fields.
Where it comes from
Developed by BJ Fogg at Stanford's Behavior Design Lab, published in 2009, and expanded in his book Tiny Habits (2019).