The Challenge
Many people want to change their habits, however, it is very challenging to do so.
Even when an individual wants to change, knows the “best practices” and beings to start changing a habit, they are often unable to successfully adopt a new habit or quit an established one.
Many try and fail multiple times using a variety of apps, books, workshops and more.
Conventional methods and popular techniques touted as working for a few “successful” people just don’t work for everyone.
Can a different approach to habit change, that is still backed by established research, help people build better habits?
The Hypothesis
The Juicy Habits app will provide a new method for habit change by guiding users to:
Create strategically designed, ideal habit mixes. These mixes will combine current and new behaviors with enjoyable activities. Each of these actions help the user move through easy and difficult to complete steps without over-focusing and over-stressing on a single one.
Anchor new habit mixes in triggering events (such as coming home from work) to start their mix at various times of day.
Reflect and adjust their habit mixes to feel natural and easy to complete as they gain momentum and successfully change their behaviors.
User Research | User Interviews
Interview Questions
We asked a group of individuals who expressed they were actively working to change a habit about their progress. We wanted to discover more about: Where do people struggle with habit change? Where do they find success? Do any of areas align with the Juicy Habits approach?
Tell us about some habits you'd like to change?
Why do you want to change these habits?
What are some challenges you've faced when trying to change these habits?
What are some positives you've experienced while trying to change these habits?
Have you ever used an app or followed a specific method to try to change a habit?
If yes, what about it worked well and what didn't?
Have you ever successfully changed a habit?
If yes, what helped you succeed?
If no, why do you think it didn't work out?
Why do you think changing a habit is so challenging?
What advice would you give someone who is trying to change a habit?
User Research | Key Insights
Most Popular Habits
Work out more
Eat healthier
Spend less time on my phone
Observations & OPPORTUNITIES
Yes, people do struggle with habit change. And yes, they do know the best practices. Each participant had many examples of habits they had tried and failed to change. A few had successful examples too. They were aware of habit change theory, such as identifying triggers. However, this awareness also led to additional guilt that they knew what to do, but just weren’t good enough to actually make it happen.
Popular habits
Why change a habit?
Health and time-management habits are the most popular. Every participant interviewed wanted to improve at least one health-related habit. The other popular habit category included ways to use time more effectively, including stopping procrastinating or using phones and social media less.
When onboarding new users, offer an option to select from common habits that includes some additional resources to support the specific habit.
There are overlapping mental models around goals and habits. Many participants see goal setting and habit change as the same activity. For example, their goal is to quit smoking and they would like to stop their habit of smoking.
Users of the app may benefit from setting the goal (I would like to quit smoking) and untangling their habit associated with that goal (replacing smoking after I eat with a positive action).
Habit change is viewed as doing more or less of an activity, but participants don’t get more specific. Are the habits participants want to change daily, weekly, multiple times per day or some other frequency? Many participants talked about “knowing they should” do more or less of something, but had not yet committed to a specific time.
Helping users work through habit flows in the app may help them be more intentional around the exact times they intend to do or not do a specific habit.
Encourage users to build a stronger commitment to change their habits to move them from “I should do X” to “I want to do X”. Perhaps offer resources and prompts to explore why they want to change or have them sign a pact of some sort.
Habit change is about feelings. Participants do not embark on changing a habit to win awards. They mostly just want to feel better, happier, more energetic and more in control of their lives.
The app could help users connect with these feelings. Connect users to their desired feeling during their journey of habit change so they aren’t waiting until they are “perfect” to feel good.
Challenges to habit change
Supporting habit change
Phases of giving up on a new habit include: not having awareness, hitting roadblocks, ignoring signals and losing interest. Many participants described similar phases when they stop focusing on changing a habit.
Find ways to support users during each of these phases to help them keep going.
Success is about mindset. Participants felt more encouraged with their goals when receiving positive feedback, progress rewards and support from other people. They also understood that they really needed to want to make changes to their habits and commit to the work involved.
Provide a variety of feedback opportunities to give positive reinforcement to users.
Personas
Juicy Habits is not for everyone. There are some habit apps out there that work very well for certain personalities who like data, rules and will follow-thru on commitments to themselves. This app is for people who have trouble with those things. They might find data and rules are too restrictive or bring up negative feelings. I did find some similarities in how these individuals view their habits and goals. Both groups are very hopeful. They do think someday they will have better habits, but haven’t committed to them, yet.
NIKKI Parsons
THE GOES-WITH-THE-FLOW GOAL-SETTER
Bio: Nikki has a lot of ideas. Sometimes, too many. She’s a big believer in Oprah’s “live your best life” mantra and is always willing to try out a new practice for better living. She’s probably trying something new right now.
Goals: To follow-thru on habits she wants to integrate into her lifestyle.
Motivations: To live a happy, healthier life. She knows there are things she wants to do, but sometimes she just can’t quite tap that motivation to take the steps to complete them. She knows she can do more, if she just figured out how.
Frustrations: Nikki tries various apps to track habits, but none last for too long. She’ll spend a lot of time setting them up, but tracking her activities feels too regimented, annoying and sad. Many seem like they are trying to make her feel bad or guilty. Nikki hates anything that brings up guilty feelings. If it doesn’t feel good to use the app, she’ll give up on it - and unfortunately the habit too.
Behaviors: She likes her day to be very flexible so that she can adapt to how she’s feeling. This doesn’t mean that she’s not organized, but she likes to feel free and not too confined by rules.
LEO HOPPER
THE I’LL-START-TOMORROW WISHFUL-THINKER
Bio: Leo knows there are some better habits he should be practicing. He just fell into a rhythm and now it’s hard to change it. Plus he’s a little tired. He’ll get around to those better habits, someday.
Goals: To commit to a new habit and actually start.
Motivations: Leo is starting to feel age creep up on him. He feels like he should really start making those changes, but doesn’t have a good foundation to build on.
Frustrations: Leo isn’t sure where to start. He’s read a lot of articles online and is getting a little overwhelmed by all the advice out there. The suggestions he’s reading about seem to only fit into an idealized situation, not one where he is so busy with work and family. He’s not sure where to squeeze in even an extra five minutes into his day.
Behaviors: Leo likes structure and explanations so he know what’s happening and why. At the same time, he doesn’t have the time or patience to do a bunch of extra work. He wants things to be straightforward and clear.