Behavioral Audit

Summary: People rarely adopt new behaviors. They mostly repeat existing ones. The Behavioral Audit inventories what the user already does so you can anchor your strategy to a current habit rather than asking for a revolution.

The Core Insight

Momentum is powerful. It is 10x easier to modify an existing stream of behavior than to create a river from scratch.

We are looking for “anchors”-existing routines that can carry our new intervention.

The Audit Protocol

1. The “Yesterday” Probe

Do not ask “What do you usually do?” (Users lie/generalize). Ask: “Walk me through yesterday, starting from when you woke up.”

• Capture specific verbs: “Checked email,” “Walked dog,” “Opened Slack.”
• Capture specific sequences: “Coffee then news.”

2. The Frequency Inventory

Catalog high-frequency behaviors vs. low-frequency behaviors.

• High Frequency: Checking phone, drinking water, opening new tab. (Good anchors for micro-actions).
• Low Frequency: Filing taxes, changing oil. (Bad anchors; require their own triggers).

3. The Tool Audit

What tools are already open?

• If the user lives in Slack, do not build a separate portal. Build a Slack bot.
• If the user lives in Excel, do not build a dashboard. Build a CSV export.

Strategic Selection

Once you have the inventory, play “The Substitution Game.”

• Goal: Get user to track calories.
• Bad Strategy: “Download new app.” (Requires new behavior).
• Good Strategy (Audit-Based): User already takes photos of food for Instagram. -> “Just hashtag your food photos with #calories.” (Piggybacking).

Output

A Behavioral Repertoire. A list of verified, high-frequency actions this user already performs, which serve as the foundation for your strategy.