How can tech products measure our current motivation levels for healthy behavior?

Kai KightStanford University

CatchingMotivation

Waves

People experience NATURAL

peaks and troughs in motivation.

Motivation Waves

Motivation peaks simply allow people to do things that are harder to do

At motivational peaks, people can do things that they cannot do at lower levels of motivation

High Motivation

Low Motivation

Why does this matter?

The best health solutions...

"Help people succeed on the most desirable health behavior that matches their current motivation"- BJ Fogg, Professor, Stanford University

WHAT IF...

...Mobile health products could measure motivation peaks at any time???

THE SOLUTION

Measure MICROCOSMIC peaks in behavior

heres how it works...

Measure MICROCOSMIC peaks in behavior

Since motivation allows us to do harder things...

...Lets look at what makes something hard to do

Since motivation allows us to do harder things...

There are SIX FACTORSthat can make a behavior hard to

do...

PHYSICAL EFFORT

1

TIME

2

MONEY

3

SOCIAL DEVIANCE

4

BREAKING ROUTINE

5

THINKING

6

SIX FACTORS

1. Physical Effort2. Time

3. Money4. Social Deviance5. Breaking Routine

6. Thinking

We can measure motivation by tracking when people perform small yet hard behaviors throughout the day. We will call these behaviors

MICROHARD behaviors.

We can measure motivation by tracking when people perform small yet hard behaviors throughout the day. We will call these behaviors

MICROHARD behaviors.

We can outline these microhard behaviors by using the six factors...

Physical Effort

●Monitor situations in which a person does a harder physical behavior instead an optional easier one

A product could...

Physical Effort

●

MICROHARD BEHAVIORS

Monitor situations in which a person does a harder physical behavior instead an optional easier one

● Taking stairs instead of elevator

● Walking to a store instead of driving

A product could...

Time

●Measure peaks in time spent performing healthy behaviors

A product could...

Time

●

MICROHARD BEHAVIORS

Measure peaks in time spent performing healthy behaviors

● Traveling to a gym far away

● Spending time looking up health issues on google

A product could...

Money

Measure when and how much someone pays for a health related product

A product could...

Money

●

MICROHARD BEHAVIORS

Measure when and how much some pays for a health related product

● Going to a health related restaurant (gps)

● Purchasing health-related products online

A product could...

Social Deviance

●Measure use of social media and messaging to forecast health behaviors they have or want to do

A product could...

Social Deviance

●

MICROHARD BEHAVIORS

Measure use of social media and messaging to forecast health behaviors they have or want to do

● Facebook/ Twitter posts involving words such as "gym", "exercise", or "diet"

A product could...

Breaking Routine

●

Make a framework for a person's typical week (sleep/wake times, etc.) then monitor health related deviations

A product could...

Breaking Routine

●

MICROHARD BEHAVIORS

Make a framework for a person's typical week (sleep/wake times, etc.) then monitor health related deviations

● Going to sleep earlier than usual

● Leaving work early to go workout

A product could...

Thinking

●Measure the amount of health related information people are willing to take in

A product could...

Thinking

●

MICROHARD BEHAVIORS

Measure the amount of health related information people are willing to take in

● Buying a health related book

● Reading health articles online

A product could...

Summary

If you want to measure motivation...

Summary1. Learn what makes certain

behaviors hard

Summary1. Learn what makes certain

behaviors hard2. Monitor persons regular

behavior

Summary1. Learn factors that make

behaviors hard2. Monitor persons regular

behavior3. Measure peaks in microhard

behaviors

Thanks for viewing!

Kai KightStanford University | 2014B.S. Candidate | Product Design Engineeringkrkight@stanford.edu

See my other work on Behavior Design:

How I changed my environment in 3 ways for better health behavior