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Comment by authorfly

2 days ago

I totally agree with your suggestion for ordering, self-reporting the success and the "if x then imagine y!" you discuss and I get you didn't ask for criticism, but in your last example - the value of coffee to you might not be what it costs to make. The value can be a lot more for some people than others:

- Utility-wise: If you need to perform at work.. even if having it every day means the coffee nolonger changes from your original no-coffee baseline..

- Social: My girlfriend doesn't really go to the expensive coffee shop because it's worth the 2x marker. It's because she can chat about relationships, have security in her relationships with her friends and they can designate this as an unscheduled-long time to talk through issues

- Regulating your emotions For me at least buying something small and pleasant can avoid troughs/peaks. In fact overstressing the financial ratio of cost:price of a product causes these troughs for me. That's also why poorer people often buy small but tasty things, even when it's pricy for them, it regulates their mood up enough to slog through the rest of the 1am shifts with difficulty seeing the future (I have been there...)

That's why I'd be wary of having an app pressure you not to buy something. You don't always know the real reasons your body gets you to do things.

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authorfly

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Paradigm2020  2 days ago

Utility-wise: I specifically mentioned same amount of coffee so this one is moot.

Social: most coffee is consumed for takeaway and on Auto-Pilot. In the usa most starbuckses make 80%! From takeaway and 20% from sit ins (they tried to close some Starbucks locations because of this but the funny part is that sales drop more than the 20%... Probably because people take the "cost of the store" into their reasoning why they are spending 7-12$ on a cup of Joe.)

-regulating your emotions: if you are in a luxury position that's fine... Being / perceiving / stressing about being poor causes a drop of 8 IQ points. I know/understand what you mean and changing a default always causes stress but the question is always about short term pain vs long term gain... Nobody likes to change... Being told what to do... The app is not pressuring you - it's making you aware of options / costs that you might not have considered. (Did you know) The thing is that if the app is well made and you trust the maker you know you have a "friend" who is looking out for you... Even though you might still ignore him/her (think friends who smoke cigarettes etc...)

The brain's main goal is not too think because it tries to preserve energy... Unfortunately the environment is simultaneously safer (we killed all animals that literally can kill us) and more dangerous (our fellow humans who used to stand next to us having our back against the animals are often against our interests now.)

The question is always what is a low effort high reward substitute... I'd say takeaway coffee is probably one of the best options for a lot of people.

The art is just to visualize the profit you're gonna make in the future in the now --- because your brain focuses on the now... If I said to you that if you drink a coffee less every other day you'd "make" 4140$ in 5 years would you --- pretty sure for most people in dire financial straits they would... On the other hand not meeting with your friend for brunch once a month might save you more even but a friend is harder to substitute than some sugary beverage...

The question is always "why" - the "suffering" now is always certain (change is painful if it is not perceived as improvement) but by making the future gains big, visual and realistic people (can be) more self motivated.