Quit smoking, lose weight, less internet and more books – most of us, at one time or another, have wished to curb our poor habits and take up more enriching, healthier ones. But getting round to actually making a start is often the first stumbling block, closely followed by keeping up the good work.

For those who lack the necessary willpower, there are now technological solutions. Coach.me, a mobile app that connects its users to coaches, is one example. It puts people who wish to develop better lives through pursuits such as yoga and meditation in touch with experts who can teach them the skills they need.

A person looking for a mentor puts their requirements into the app and then receives recommendations for suitable coaches. It’s rather like browsing a board of advertisements in the local shop. The best coaches are easy to find, thanks to the app’s user-generated reviews.

“So many people use coaches, despite how much friction there is to getting a good coaching experience,” explains Coach.me’s CEO and co-founder Tony Stubblebine. “All we’re doing is taking what people want and making it easier.”

Habit-changing technology doesn’t necessarily require a human partner. Pavlok is a wristband that gives out electric shocks. When its wearer realises they’re about to continue with a bad habit – say, when they’re lifting a cigarette towards their mouth – they press a button on the device, which gives them a non-harmful, but very noticeable, 255-volt shock. Pavlok’s director of strategy Chris Schelzi claims it helps people to change their habits over a short period of time.

“The shock gives you a presence of mind, which is so important,” he explains. “It pulls you into that moment instantly.” The wearer starts to associate the habit with the shock – to the point that they no longer desire to continue it.

Quantified-self has been huge in being able to measure all these variables. The next evolution is not just to track but to change what you do. Pavlok’s founder Maneesh Sethi originally had the idea after he realised how much time he was wasting on Facebook when he should have been working. He used an ad on Craigslist to hire someone to shout at him, or even slap him, every single time he logged into the site.

Sethi managed to kick his Facebook habit and dramatically improve his productivity. Pavlok simply takes this process and automates it, says Schelzi. The device, which received investment via crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, will soon add a feature that partners its users with real-life sponsors, who will be able to support users as they embark on breaking their bad habits.

The growth of self-awareness has been much influenced by the quantified-self movement, which encourages people to measure and monitor themselves using wearable technology such as Fitbit, Nike+ and Jawbone UP. The drawback of many of these devices, however, is that while they accumulate a lot of data about what you’ve done, they don’t impart a great deal of knowledge on how to apply that data to make changes for the better.

“Quant-self has been huge in personal health in being able to measure all these variables,” says Schelzi. “It was a great first step – it was good to track your habits. The next evolution is not just to track but to change what you do.”

Will Seymour, a brand officer at the Future Foundation who has carried out research into wearable technology, says that the value in quant-self devices currently lies in their ability to motivate, rather than to analyse. “Rather than giving people precise and accurate information, it’s more about giving people a point of contact with what’s going on in their life. That’s the real value – some relative measure of progress.”

Seymour does, however, see wearables beginning to incorporate features that go beyond tracking and encourage the wearer to act. The Garmin Vívosmart, for instance, is a smart activity tracker that, in addition to recording various health-related measurements such as its user’s heart rate, vibrates to indicate that the user has been inactive for too long.

The Microsoft Band digital wristband has a similar capability to intervene. It can not only use its built-in GPS to monitor activity, but also to monitor UV levels so the wearer can decide to put on sunscreen – or maybe take a few hours in the shade. It will also recommend recovery times following workouts.

Ultimately, if financial incentives don’t help, then the sheer embarrassment of failure might be the best solution According to Seymour, it won’t be long before we see these devices becoming even more proactive in recommending how we behave. In the future it’s highly likely these devices will tell us what to do using a mass of personal data. “An algorithm in the back end will start saying to you: ‘Don’t have that second coffee as you get a bit stressed!’,” says Seymour.

Making sure we stick to our habits might still require other means of encouragement – means such as Go Fucking Do It, a website created by serial start-up developer Pieter Levels which helps people to reach their personal goals using a simple financial incentive: if you fail to reach your goal, you’ll lose money. People register their personal goal on the website and pledge a certain amount of money. A nominated 'supervisor' will receive the pledged money if the goal hasn’t been achieved within an allotted time period.

Ultimately, if financial incentives don’t help, then the sheer embarrassment of failure might be the best solution. BetterMe is an app that trades in this kind of humiliation. When someone fails to reach their goals, messages announcing the defeat are posted to their Facebook profile for all their friends to see.

Perhaps the wearables of the future will combine all these aspects: behavioural recommendations based on analysis of our personal data, help to change our ways – and punish us if we don’t. Until then, a vibration or a shock will have to do.

Originally printed in Protein Journal #15