- Tools
- Habit Friction Calculator
Find the one step that makes a habit hard.
Lay a habit out as the steps from the cue to done and rate each one on time, money, effort, thinking, social, and routine. The calculator finds the weakest link, suggests the moves that make it easier, turns the plan into a recipe, and keeps a log of where the habit stops. Run it backwards to break a bad one.
- 6 factors per step
- 15 moves
- Free, no account
Read every morningThe steps from the cue to done, each rated from none to a lot
60/100Friction scoreThis will lean on motivation.
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1The coffee goes on the desk
Time Money Effort Thinking Social Routine1.0
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2Find the book
Time Money Effort Thinking Social Routine1.6
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3Leave the phone alone
Time Money Effort Thinking Social Routine2.4The weakest link
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4Open at the bookmark
Time Money Effort Thinking Social Routine1.0
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5Read two pages
Time Money Effort Thinking Social Routine1.2
Lay out the chain, one step to a row
Lay the habit out, change the hardest step, then watch where it stops. All on one screen, saved as you go. This is step 3 of the reading example, as the bench draws it.
3Leave the phone alone
2.4of 6
- Write the steps from the cue to done, two to eight of them.
- Rate each one from none to a lot on the six factors. One step can be quick and still be the one you avoid.
- Each step costs 0 to 6. The steps are drawn as a staircase, and the habit gets a friction score out of 100.
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TimeFogg’s element
Does this step take longer than you have at that moment?
Twenty minutes to get to the gym before you have even started.
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MoneyFogg’s element
Does it cost something each time you do it?
A class fee, a taxi, a coffee you buy to make it bearable.
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EffortFogg: physical effort
Does it ask your body for more than it has at that hour?
Getting changed, carrying kit, leaving a warm room.
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ThinkingFogg: brain cycles
Do you have to decide, remember or work something out first?
Choosing which workout, finding where you left off, facing a number you dread.
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SocialFogg: social deviance
Does it feel odd, rude or out of place where you are?
Meditating in a shared office, leaving dinner early, saying no to a round.
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RoutineFogg: non-routine
Does it break the way your day usually runs?
A step you only take on some days, in a room you do not usually go to.
BJ Fogg names six things that make a behavior hard to do. Each step is rated on all six.
Fix the weakest link, and the whole habit gets easier
The bench points at the hardest step and lists the moves that would make it easier, sorted by what each would do to the score. Apply one and the staircase redraws. Moves stack, and each is one click to undo.
Before
Step 3, leave the phone alone
2.4of 6
Put the thing where you cannot miss it at the moment the step should happen.
Thinking and routine each drop a level.
After put the cue in sight
Step 3, leave the phone alone
1.2of 6
The habit before60
After45
The weakest link is now step 2, find the book, at 1.6. That is where the next move goes.
Write it down and log it
Turn the plan into a recipe, “After I …, I will …”, with a celebration and a plan for the usual obstacle. Then log each day: did it, or the step where it stopped. The stops show where the next move belongs.
After I put my coffee on the desk, I will read two pages.
Then I celebrate by saying “that's one” and closing the book on the bookmark.
If I reach for my phone first, then I will put it face down under the book.
Where it stops, a sample week
- Mon
- Tue
- 3Wed
- Thu
- 3Fri
- Sat
- Sun
Easier beats more motivated
Motivation comes and goes. How hard a step is stays put until you change it.
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Behavior is motivation, ability and a prompt
In Fogg’s model a behavior happens when all three meet at the same moment. Motivation is the part you cannot count on, so the calculator works on ability: make the step easy enough that a low day still clears it.
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A habit is only as easy as its hardest step
Fogg calls it the weakest link. If leaving the phone alone is the hard part of reading, a nicer book changes nothing. That is why the score leans on the hardest step and the bench sends you there first.
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Small frictions add up
Wendy Wood’s research finds that much of what people do each day repeats in the same place, and that small changes to the setting move behavior more than resolve does. Slowing a lift’s doors was enough to send more people up the stairs.
How the score is worked out
step = hardest factor + ⅕ × the other five
habit = (hardest step + ¼ × the others) ÷ 6 × 100
Each factor is rated 0 to 3, so a step costs 0 to 6. The reading example scores 60: step 3 costs 2.4 and the other 4 add a quarter of their 4.8.
- Easy enough for a bad day0–25
- Workable. One more move and it holds26–50
- This will lean on motivation51–75
- Motivation alone will not carry this76–100
Breaking a habit runs it backwards
A bad habit is usually easy all the way down. Switch the bench to break, and it looks for the easiest step after the cue: the open door.
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Friction, as early as you can
Every move now makes its factors harder, and a higher score is better. A step that takes a walk, a password or a decision is a moment to change your mind.
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A replacement in the recipe
The recipe reads “When …, instead I will …”, so the cue still has somewhere to go. The log counts the step where the friction stopped you.
Moves for breaking a habit
- Put it out of sightBiscuits on the top shelf, in a box
- Put distance in the wayPhone charges in the kitchen
- Add a stepLog out of the app after each use
- Take it awayDelete the app from the phone
- Put a price on itFive dollars to a friend each time
- Say it out loudTell your partner the phone stays off after ten
- Change the sceneWatch TV from the other chair
Start from an example
Each opens the bench with its steps already rated and a recipe written, ready to change into your own.
- Build a good habit, scores 60 Read every morning 5 steps, from “the coffee goes on the desk” to “read two pages”. Open reading
- Build a good habit, scores 69 Move after work 4 steps, from “close the laptop” to “move for five minutes”. Open exercise
- Build a good habit, scores 71 Meditate in the morning 4 steps, from “finish brushing my teeth” to “sit through three minutes”. Open meditation
- Build a good habit, scores 73 Start the day with deep work 4 steps, from “sit down at the desk” to “work ten minutes in one tab”. Open deep work
- Build a good habit, scores 77 Review the budget on Sunday 4 steps, from “clear the dinner table” to “write down one change”. Open budget review
- Build a good habit, scores 58 Wind down before bed 4 steps, from “the evening alarm rings” to “ten minutes of reading or stretching”. Open sleep routine
- Build a good habit, scores 80 Check in after dinner 4 steps, from “dinner ends” to “ask it and listen”. Open relationship check-in
- Break a bad habit, scores 17 Stop scrolling in bed 4 steps, from “get into bed” to “open the feed”. Open scrolling in bed
- Break a bad habit, scores 17 Stop snacking after dinner 4 steps, from “walk past the kitchen” to “eat in front of the TV”. Open evening snacking
Opening an example adds it to your shelf of designs. The ones you already had stay where they were, and the new one is one Undo away.
Keep going
Once a habit is easy enough to start, give it a place to be counted and a place in the year.
What it is built on
Six sources, used for what they show and no more.
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Six elements of simplicity
B. J. Fogg, “A Behavior Model for Persuasive Design”, Persuasive 2009
A behavior needs motivation, ability and a trigger at once. Ability breaks down into time, money, physical effort, brain cycles, social deviance and non-routine, and a behavior is only as simple as its scarcest one. The calculator’s six factors are these.
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The recipe and the celebration
B. J. Fogg, Tiny Habits, 2019
Anchor a tiny behavior to something you already do, “After I …, I will …”, and celebrate straight away. The bench’s recipe follows his form.
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Friction and the setting
Wendy Wood, Good Habits, Bad Habits, 2019
Small changes in how easy something is, such as distance, delay or a step added, shift what people do more reliably than willpower. The break moves add exactly that kind of friction.
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Habits repeat in context
W. Wood, J. M. Quinn and D. A. Kashy, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83(6), 2002
In diary studies, about 43 percent of what people did each day was repeated in the same place, usually while thinking about something else. It is why the routine factor and the scene moves are there.
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Plans tied to a moment
P. M. Gollwitzer and P. Sheeran, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 38, 2006
A meta-analysis of 94 studies found that “if situation, then action” plans had a medium-to-large effect on reaching goals. The recipe’s “If …, then I will …” line is one.
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Make it easy, or make it hard
James Clear, Atomic Habits, 2018
Scale a new habit down to two minutes, and break a bad one by inverting the laws that build one: make it invisible, unattractive and difficult. The shrink, hide and distance moves come from here.
Questions
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What is habit friction?
Friction is everything that stands between a cue and the habit getting done, such as time, effort, cost, thinking, awkwardness and change to your routine. The less friction a good habit has, the less motivation it needs. A bad habit with more friction is easier to skip. The calculator measures it step by step and shows you where to change it.
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How is the friction score worked out?
You rate each step from none to a lot on six factors (time, money, effort, thinking, social and routine). A step costs as much as its hardest factor, plus a fifth of the other five. The habit scores as much as its hardest step, plus a quarter of every other step, out of 100. The hardest step counts most because, as BJ Fogg puts it, a behavior is only as simple as its weakest link.
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What is the difference between building and breaking a habit here?
When you build a habit, a lower score is better, and the bench points at the hardest step so you can make it easier. When you break one, a higher score is better, and it points at the easiest step after the cue, the open door, so you can put friction there. Moves work in reverse too. Build moves lower a step's factors, break moves raise them.
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Why does it ask for the steps instead of the habit as a whole?
“Go to the gym” is many steps, and usually only one of them is the real problem. It might be finding the kit, leaving the house or choosing a workout. Rating the whole habit hides that. Rating each step shows where the friction is, so a small change like packing the bag the night before can take most of it away.
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What should I log each day?
Whether the habit happened. If you are building one, mark “did it” or the step where you stopped. If you are breaking one, mark the step where the friction stopped you, or that you went all the way. After a week or two the stops pile up on one step, which tells you where the next move belongs.
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Is this the same as tracking a streak?
No. A missed day is information, not a failure. The log has no streak to protect and no chain to break. It counts where the habit stopped, so you can redesign that step rather than try harder.
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Where is my design saved?
In this browser, as you edit. If you are signed in to HourLife, your designs are also saved to your account, so they follow you to another device. Nothing you type is shown to anyone else, and you can export a design as text or Markdown at any time.
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Does it work for breaking a phone habit?
Yes. Start from the “Scrolling in bed” example. List the steps from getting into bed to opening the feed, then add friction to the easiest one. Charging the phone in the kitchen, logging out after each use and taking the app off the home screen are all moves the bench offers.
Related tools and books
Make the hard step easy
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