Most of the coaches I’ve read over the last few years are fans of automation technologies. Whether they focus on finances or consulting or health and wellness or writing, they’re also behaviorists.
Behaviorism is a school of psychology that focuses on what people do, not what they say they plan to do or which meanings they assign to what they do. The focus is simply what people do: our actions, responses, and habits.
For example, Ramit Sethi once wrote on the cliché “Oh, I’m just going to have a small wedding.” He explained what American people actually spend on weddings, and how much money most should plan to save for their own. Many of us might dream about hosting an intimate celebration, but what people actually do is comply with social expectation, family pressure, and personal guilt!
The Wedding Report‘s database shows that the average US couple spends, on average, a minimum of $20,000. That average expense might be even higher in your zip code. In mine, it’s $36,000 higher. That’s a lot of money!
If we only listened to what people think they should be doing rather than what they actually do, we’d radically underestimate what people are willing to spend for this life event. So coaches will often use behaviorist philosophy and methods because actions are measurable in ways that intent and visions aren’t. It’s easy for anyone to confirm that I’ve written on this website every day for the last several months. My dreams and plans are much less scrutable.
So researchers like BJ Fogg and writers like Charles Duhigg look at our wedding expense bluffs and other follies, and invite people to work on their actions, not just their intentions. As CGP Grey puts it, “Wishing upon a star that people are better than they are is a terrible solution. Instead, what works is a structurally systematized solution.” Watch this video on a social problem to understand what he means.
Our goals and hopes do matter, and our intentions help us to focus our attentions. So even as we refine intentions, it’s also worth looking at how we can use technology to help us structure and manage our actions and habits.
The wellness app My Fitness Pal sends users notifications that remind them to log in each day. Without these daily reminders, which come in at random hours of the afternoon or evening, it can be easy to forget to log the day’s food or exercise. The notifications force users to attend to their wellness practices; they remind them of their goals and the reminders come through a tool users chose themselves.
This technological structure sets a user up for success, at least to the degree that any system that doesn’t also account for people’s genes, medical situation, shopping habits, or time constraints can!
This applies to more than wellness: it’s great to intend to save, and it’s even better to automate the contribution so you can’t fail to meet your goal through inattention or inaction. It’s a lovely idea to choose simpler food, and it’s even better to track your actual choices at home or while eating out.
When we use technology to automate the actions we want to reinforce, we’re reshaping the environment we choose in. We’re also making it more likely that we’ll stick to whatever goals we have. With time, we’ll discover whether those goals are worth sticking to!