Last January, I posted “3 Achievable Resolutions for Weight Loss.” So I was interested to read the Wall Street Journal op-ed BJ Fogg wrote to promote his new book Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything. (I haven’t read the book itself.) I have some hope that his approach may help you in implementing some of the things I have recommended in my diet and health posts—such as going off sugar. (On that, also see “Letting Go of Sugar.”)

Here is the claim BJ Fogg makes for his approach:

It isn’t primarily repetition over a long period that creates habits; it’s the emotion that you attach to them from the start. Data from the most recent 5,200 people to complete a five-day course of our program showed that more than half were able to instill habits in five days or less.

He lays out the basics of his approach as follows. All of the following that is indented are BJ Fogg’s words; I have rearranged and added indentation, bullets and bolding:

It turns out that there is a formula for any successful shift in behavior. … To instill a habit,

1. the first thing you need is motivation: Pick a behavior that you want to do rather than one you merely feel obligated to do.

• … don’t think you have to create motivation. Choose habits that you already are eager to adopt.

2. Second, you need to be able to do it: Make the change simple and small at first.

• a busy mom named Amy, who needed to manage distractions and stay focused on essential tasks. The habit she initially designed with our help was just to write one must-do task on a Post-it Note and stick it on her car dashboard, prompted by each day’s kindergarten drop-off. She didn’t even have to do the task itself at first; the initial habit was all about setting priorities. 

• One of my favorite projects was at a research hospital where the challenge was to tackle the problem of nurse burnout, a large and growing issue in health care. …

  I heard firsthand just how difficult it was for them to do basic things like drink enough water, eat regularly, and even get a full night’s sleep. So we worked together on creating healthy habits like “After I open my computer, I will take a sip of water,” or “After I answer the call light, I will take a deep breath.”

3. Third, you need a personal prompt: Identify a way to reliably trigger the behavior.

• The best way to prompt a new habit is to anchor it to an existing routine in your life, whether it’s flushing the toilet, turning on the coffee pot in the morning or buckling your seat belt.

• … every time he brushed his teeth, he would do two push-ups, then hold a “plank’’ position for just five seconds.

4. Finally, you need to celebrate your new habit, so that your brain associates it with positive feelings.

• As you try each new habit, celebrate immediately. Cause yourself to feel good in that exact moment, whether it’s an inward “Good job!” or an outward fist pump.

If your goal is going off of sugar, an example of starting small would be to stop drinking sugary drinks such as soft drinks or juice; you could replace them with coffee or tea or flavored sparkling water. (See “In Praise of Flavored Sparkling Water.” On the trouble with juice, see “Forget Calorie Counting; It's the Insulin Index, Stupid.” On why not to substitute soft drinks with nonsugar sweeteners, see “Which Nonsugar Sweeteners are OK? An Insulin-Index Perspective.”)

An even easier goal to get you started toward better health would be to eat an avocado a day, one way or another, except on days when you are fasting. (See “In Praise of Avocados.”)

For annotated links to other posts on diet and health, see:

• Miles Kimball on Diet and Health: A Reader's Guide