Why have many tried to stop bad habits, but only a few have succeeded?
Bad habits are weird.
A bad habit is not a good habit, and that’s why we cannot use the same approach to stop bad habits as we do when forming good habits.
So, the goal is to avoid pesky habits and show progress at the same time. In the SMART Habits app, we use these two techniques for avoiding bad habits. You can start with a green ring for a bad habit, and the app counts the days you dodged a bad habit.
Green is beautiful
The SMART Habits app allows you to start a bad habit with a green ring. So why should you do that?
A green ring indicates that something is complete. We found that marking an unwanted habit green as long as you avoided it is more motivating. However, when you log a bad habit, the green ring turns red, making us sad. The goal is to have no red circles. If every ring is green, then you know you did it.
Progress motivates.
So how can an app help to avoid bad habits? Many experiments later, we finally found a more reliable way. Progress is one of the best motivators, and this is why we added dodge streaks. Every day you avoided or dogged a bad habit adds to a streak. So, now you have the tough choice of breaking the streak or avoiding the bad habit.