How to build products that motivate users for good habits?
I often get ideas that are related to building products that change human behaviour for their own good. But I feel that building such products is very very challenging. What are your suggestions for building such products ?
Examples could be apps like Exericse apps that actually work, Streaks(for Apple devices), Duolingo, etc.
If you don't know how to build such apps, it would be great if you comment down your favourite app for building good habits/skill mastery :)
Discomfort design is a framework that is useful here. The gist is, how can you help a user engage with discomfort (not pain) for an appropriate amount of time to encourage growth? Elements to consider are what type of discomfort are they experiencing (exercise = physical, duolingo = mental, etc.), how long should they be uncomfortable (i.e. 20-60mins for a workout), and how often they should be uncomfortable (a few days a week for a workout).
Knowing why, how, and when the user should engage with discomfort, you can build the app around that using reminders or other mechanisms.
Another big component is motivation. Help the user see the benefits of the discomfort and make it as immediate as possible so they keep going. Octalysis is a framework for designing rich gamification experiences you could check out to learn more about motivation: https://yukaichou.com/gamification-examples/octalysis-complete-gamification-framework/.
As for building habits, apps can use the same principles a person would. Atomic Habits by James Clear is a great book to learn more about that.