Top mistake #8 at the Persuasive Tech Lab is focusing on abstract goals more than concrete behaviors. Here’s their example. Abstract: get in shape. Concrete: walk 15 min. today.
This is a “yes and” provision. We need big abstract goals to provide direction and meaning: get in shape, write the Great American Novel, create and implement
Here’s top mistake #7 in behavior change: believing that information leads to action. Again, the lab techies offer an observation rather than a ‘solution’: we humans aren’t so rational.
Hear, hear! Information may give us a leg up on knowing about something. But knowing and doing aren’t the same. We know far more than we’re able to translate into action, especially consistent action, which is what change is really about.
Besides, reason doesn’t make us act. Emotion does. Reason just makes us think. Doubt it? Then check out neuroscientist Antonio Damasio’s book, Descartes’ Error.