Living Skillfully: Your Mind and Health

I’ve been trialling a device called the Motivaider over the past few weeks. A while back, I thought, “I wonder if a device with a vibrating element, like a pager, but with a randomized timer in it would help with behavior change by reminding you to pay attention to what you’re doing?”

Turns out I’m not the first person to think of that.

The Motivaider has been around since the late 1980s (and looks like it, unfortunately; the people who make it say on their Motivaider FAQ that they are concentrating on making it effective, not on making it sellable, hence why it isn’t “smaller and cooler-looking”). They’ve recently updated the functionality, though not the appearance, giving it “advanced” features which enable you to change how hard it vibrates and for how long, whether it displays a clock or a countdown, and – which interested me – whether it vibrates on a regular or average (randomized) time schedule.

In actual use, I found that I switched off the randomizer after a while and just went with the regular time. I didn’t feel that the random interval added anything.

Because I’m interested in becoming more aware in my everyday life, I’ve been using it to remind me to “be here now”, to pay attention to what I’m doing at the moment. I’ve also used it as a timer for my relaxation practice – less jarring than the beeping from the microwave timer, which is what I’d been using – and have started lending it to the other people who, in rotation with me, lead a regular weekly group relaxation session. It means they don’t need to keep opening their eyes to check the clock, so they can take more part in the session themselves.

It would also be useful for lucid dreaming, if you’re into that. One of the techniques of developing the ability to have regular lucid dreams (where you’re aware that you’re dreaming and can make use of that to do things you couldn’t do while awake) is the “reality check”: regularly asking yourself, “Am I dreaming right now?”. And one of the easiest methods of checking if you’re dreaming is to look at a digital clock, glance away, and look back again. If the time shown is the same, you are almost certainly awake. Since the Motivaider both reminds you regularly to check and displays a digital clock, you’re covered.

The main purpose of the Motivaider, though, is to help you change your habits. In my previous post (Why it’s hard to change habits, and how you can change them anyway) I pointed out that without paying attention to your habit you won’t be able to change it. I know I’ve had the experience of intending to change (or create) some habit and then going through a whole day without remembering, just because I’m caught up in my everyday activities and not thinking about the change I want to make. This is what the Motivaider was designed for.

It’s very simple, unlike some competing products. There’s a watch around, for example, which vibrates and then displays a code to remind you to do a specific thing. It’s a bear to program, according to the Amazon reviews, and not very robust – again unlike the Motivaider, which is a chunky piece of gear, and which you can wear on your belt or carry in your pocket without feeling any anxiety about it getting damaged.

It has two buttons that you use to set the timer, and one switch that you use to start and stop the timer. There’s a third, somewhat camouflaged button which lets you access the “advanced” settings, but most of the time, two buttons, one switch, that’s all. It counts down and vibrates – does one thing and does it well.

The company that makes it, Behavioral Dynamics, has some good, thorough guides to using it for children and adults in applications like attitude change and personal development, sports, health, education and business. They sell them in printed form and also make them available in .pdf format from their website.

The only problem with the Motivaider is that it’s a bit overpriced for what it does. It’s a very simple device, and has been produced for two decades; you’d think it would be cheaper. I was a reseller for a while, but found that people considered the price I was able to offer it at was too high.

If you’re having trouble remembering to change your habits, though, I recommend it.

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