I totally agree with your suggestion for ordering, self-reporting the success and the "if x then imagine y!" you discuss and I get you didn't ask for criticism, but in your last example - the value of coffee to you might not be what it costs to make. The value can be a lot more for some people than others:
- Utility-wise:
If you need to perform at work.. even if having it every day means the coffee nolonger changes from your original no-coffee baseline..
- Social:
My girlfriend doesn't really go to the expensive coffee shop because it's worth the 2x marker. It's because she can chat about relationships, have security in her relationships with her friends and they can designate this as an unscheduled-long time to talk through issues
- Regulating your emotions
For me at least buying something small and pleasant can avoid troughs/peaks. In fact overstressing the financial ratio of cost:price of a product causes these troughs for me. That's also why poorer people often buy small but tasty things, even when it's pricy for them, it regulates their mood up enough to slog through the rest of the 1am shifts with difficulty seeing the future (I have been there...)
That's why I'd be wary of having an app pressure you not to buy something. You don't always know the real reasons your body gets you to do things.
- Utility-wise: If you need to perform at work.. even if having it every day means the coffee nolonger changes from your original no-coffee baseline..
- Social: My girlfriend doesn't really go to the expensive coffee shop because it's worth the 2x marker. It's because she can chat about relationships, have security in her relationships with her friends and they can designate this as an unscheduled-long time to talk through issues
- Regulating your emotions For me at least buying something small and pleasant can avoid troughs/peaks. In fact overstressing the financial ratio of cost:price of a product causes these troughs for me. That's also why poorer people often buy small but tasty things, even when it's pricy for them, it regulates their mood up enough to slog through the rest of the 1am shifts with difficulty seeing the future (I have been there...)
That's why I'd be wary of having an app pressure you not to buy something. You don't always know the real reasons your body gets you to do things.