#23. How to design a habit?
While researching, I realized journaling is based on habit. Even though there are great services that help people write journal, if it doesn’t become a habit, it’s not easy to continue. So I started to study the science behind the process of habit formation and found a great framework called “The 3 R’s of Habit Change” from this article written by James Clear.
Even though names of frameworks are slightly different, the pattern of habit formation follows the same cycle and has been proven over and over again by behavioral psychology researchers such as BJ Fogg(Stanford professor) and introduced in Charles Duhigg’s best–selling book, The Power of Habit.
According to this framework, Every habit we have follows the same 3-step pattern.
- Reminder: The trigger that initiates the behavior
- Routine: The behavior itself; the action you take
- Reward: The benefit you gain from doing the behavior
If the reward is positive, then you’ll want to repeat the routine again the next time the reminder happens. Repeat the same action enough times and it becomes a habit.
And I tried to apply this framework to my solution while developing a concept and a working prototype.
I researched new technologies that can support this system. I found a touch-enabled projector that turns any flat surface into a touch screen. I decided to use this technology for my solution. I thought it could be a stronger reminder than other mobile apps and provide more convenient interface, and eventually the experience itself would be better. Based on this system that supports the habit formation cycle, I hope that users can build their journaling habits.
