Break Down 9 Psychological Motives Behind Popular Accountability and Productivity Apps

Sense of own pride:

Desire to perform well in front of our mentors, or scared for disappointing our mentors:

• Couch.me, focused.space

Desire to perform well in front of our mentees:

• Becoming a mentor on productivity platforms like Ultraworking The Work Gym, Complice

Desire to perform well in front of strangers we are attracted to:

• Strategically pick partners or join challenges on Focusmate, SPAR!, or GetMotivatedBuddies

Scared of failing in front of strangers:

• Focusmate

Scared of failing in front of public or social media:

• Stickk, 我要当学霸

Sense of group honor:

Habitica Party, Ultraworking Pentathlon, CO-X3

The desire to compete:

Desire to compete and win over others:

• Ultraworking Pentathlon, CO-X3

Desire to compete and win against self-imposed/deadlines:

• Task-based: todo list apps and habit tracking apps
• Deadline based: Routinary

The desire to not break consistent/beautiful pattern:

Desire to not break consistency:

• Habit tracking apps like Loop, Habitify, Strides
• Todo list apps like Todoist, Things

Desire to not break the beautiful pattern:

• Forest app

Reward and punishment:

Money reward or Money punishment:

• SPAR!, Sweatcoin, Beeminder, Stickk

Physical reward or punishment:

• Pavlok (electrical shot armband)

Arbitrary reward or punishment:

• Habitica, CO-X3 (reward or punishment in terms of scores)

Rewards beyond one’s self:

• Forest app’s planting a tree

We are more focused when distractions are not available:

Software programs to automatically block apps/websites or shutdown internet/devices:

• App Limit setting (iOS), Motion (Chrome), StayFocused (Chrome), Focusme (Mac, Windows), ColdTurkey (Windows), AppDetox (Android)

We become hardworking when we are surrounded by many hardworking people, like go to a library to study:

• Ultraworking The Work Gym, Complice workrooms
• Ultraworking monthly planning and review, Complice 6-month planning and review

Community mutual support and encouragement:

• Mastermind Groups and Accountability Groups (Ex. MastermindJam)
• SPAR! group chat, Ultraworking The Work Gym group chat

Some people like to cheat the system to gain reward or avoid punishment:

This is why some apps have a Cheat-Proof mechanism at the data collection stage:

• Use video recording for cheat-proof: SPAR!, Stickk
• Use API to pull data from web/app usage and activity tracking sensors: Pavlok, Beeminder