Energy flows (where focus goes)

A story about how to complain less and be more positive.

This is a important story about my first solo project: Create a Habit Tracking App.

Introduction

Its not easy be positive however we all agree that being negative and complaining too much is not drive us to anywhere.

This app is all about that, being more positive, more happy.

This app was a solo project. I have made the interviews, the survey and also the prototype.

Research

After 7 interviews, online research and a survey I get to this conclusions and pain points:

• Lack of motivation;
• Too negativity;
• People complain about things they have the control;
• Negative people easily become toxic (to themselves and to others);
• People are afraid of the failure so they take long in change things they like instead complain;
• Insecure people tending to be negative

The problem: being negative/ complaining a lot

“A cry of superiority is, in reality, often a whimper of insecurity. Complaining… is a way of saying, ‘Please tell me I’m okay because right now, or in this area of my life, I don’t feel that I am.’ A person who is insecure, who doubts their value and questions their importance, will brag and complain. “

A Complaint Free World

The solution

After knowing the problems, its time for the solutions!

I decide to design an app where people could set reminders (for being more grateful, doing some breathing exercises and remember their goals) and with a board in the main page where the user can set goals and write their daily complains in order to be aware of them since complaining is, in the major of the times, not intencional.

Being negative its a easy approach however you get what you focus on. If your your focus is on the negative then that is what will happen. According with Guy Winch, Ph.D (psychologist) “It’s like a needle in a groove. As the groove gets deeper and deeper, the needle has a harder time getting out of the groove.”

I thought in hace a section where the user can set mantras since they help people remember good things and also being more positive. Having a dialogue with ourselves is great to determine what we think, what we feel and what we want to go next. The user will receive a notification every morning in order to repeat his mantra 10 times.

After doing some research I discover breathing is the most effective positive thinking technique so I decide use it as a reminder to at night.

For the main page I decide to create a mural where the user can write next achievements and also receive a notification every day in order to remember their goals. With this I expect people remember their goals, believe that they can achieve them and also stop blaming people for their own failure/insecurities so they can address themselves first.

This was my first prototype:

Here I

After this I try to put all of ideas into some nice frames or at least more interactive and understandable.

I made two versions of this prototype with some changes in between.

Bellow you can find some screens of it.

The one at your right is the last version.

I decide change the funnel since after some tests users did not understood it. Also I have made some changes in the mural so its more understandable the notes were written by the user.

First page

In order to add a complain the user need to write them and after select the ones that he feels and can change. After this selection the complain will appear in this home screen and a notification will be sent to him in order to remember that an action should be taken.

List your complaining

My mural

Here is where the user will set the different alarms in order to receive daily notifications.

Mantra screen

I let here the link to the entire prototype in case you feel curious about it and feel like seeing it:

Conclusions

I know I still have many things to learn and to discover however I just feel happy and curious about it.

Thank you for reading!