A gruelling and repetitive day at work

It's an hour to go until I can clock out and get home

That old familiar pressure bubbling within the walls of my skull

My eyes wince in reaction to the bright white fluorescent office lights

My mind immediately shifts to the image of aspirin...

Nothing sells headache tablets better than a headache...

Pharmaceutical companies monetise the cure to sickness

A cure - when it works - is quick, convenient, and relieving.

On the surface, it seems like a great idea:

The issues arise when the cure is either:

Think about the long list of negative side affects we see on medicine labelling these days

Why on earth would we put ourselves in that position?

So sick that we risk permanent damage to various organs if we use a cure.

Especially when there is so much science on healthcare today

Deep down I think we all know how we let it get that far...

Prevention = Boring

"You're telling me that if I never want a headache again I have to eat right, drink plenty of water, get plenty of exercise..."

"And I have to go to bed on time...!?"

"Screw that, tablets are way easier."

And again, deep down, we know that prevention is the better option.

So how do we make use of prevention in a way that actually works?...

In a way that doesn't feel like a chore...

In a way that feels enjoyable, fun, engaging, rewarding....

...All that good stuff.

The Board of Innovation (BoI) is asking the same question.

You can see more about them here

(This is not a sponsored post)

BoI has seen an opportunity to use behavioural design in healthcare.

They have developed a framework designed to drive positive change for patients.

They have found a way to help at the prevention and pre-disease stages.

If successful, this will change the healthcare industry forever.

We all benefit when the motives of the healthcare industry matches the patient/customer

It’s always seemed a bit shady (to me) that the same shop that sells you pills can only make money if you continue to buy the pills

But are the pharmaceutical companies to blame?

We know what we're doing.

We make choices and those choices have consequences.

(Nobody wanted to hear it)

(Congratulations if you one of the 5% still here after reading that)

The whole point is:

There are tons of great technologies, innovations and ideas abound today.

Those in the industry have a million great, life-changing ideas.

The hardest thing to change is people’s behaviour.

People are comfortable.

Why not do what we’ve always done? ...“its safe”....

This is where behavioural design comes in.

Some learn this quickly and easily

Some make it slow and painful

I took the slow and painful route.

Picture a busy, corporate salesfloor environment

(Wolf of Wallstreet without the contraband or strippers)

And me, being competitive... wanted to be the best... big ego...arrogant... etc..

When I started out, I had the “BEST” ideas.

Everything that came into my mind was "PERFECT" and you would be "STUPID" if you didn’t listen.

So why didn't people listen?

“Maybe I wasn't "sure" enough.” I thought to myself

So I would spend way too much time investigating each sale

Learning about just how effective my solution would be

Finding every single problem I could solve

How much money they are losing by not choosing my solution

How inefficient they are etc etc.

I could do all the research for a sale until I was certain that my product or service could help.

None of this mattered if they didn't feel (on an emotional level) that they needed outside help.

At best I win the sale through a demonstration of sheer effort.

In most cases, it was fruitless.

So what is the lesson?

Whoever is buying your stuff has to want to change.

We can play a role in that, but it’s not so simple as presenting a solution.

This is the same for any change in behaviour, belief, or way of thinking

I have no doubt that it is the same in the health industry...

...especially in solutions designed around prevention.

After all…

Nothing sells headache tablets better than a headache.

It takes conscious effort to:

It seems so much less effort, so much simpler to take a pill

The cure always seems like the hero we don't deserve

Prevention feels like the grumpy old man telling the kids “don’t do drugs”

But we all know prevention is the better option in the long run.

Even so, does it change our behaviour?

For some of us, yes

For most of us? No.

So what inspires people to choose prevention over cure?

How can we reinforce this behaviour and make it a life-long practice?

A Cure is a 1 time thing. No commitment. No attachment. Easy.

But it comes pre-packaged with downside:

Prevention is an every day thing.

It doesn't have to be boring

It doesn't need to feel like a chore

It doesn't have to be difficult

It's not going to break your bank (in most cases it will save you money)

You don’t have to believe me…

But you won’t want to miss out…