Hi, and welcome to Of The Well Labs—a monthly newsletter for curious minds in health tech and career development. Each edition reaches hundreds of health tech learners and growth-minded professionals, offering a curated mix of my latest insights, projects, reflections, and things that scratched my brain.  

In essence, I am learning in public, and invite you to join me through reading this newsletter.  The name “Of The Well” is a nod to the literal meaning of my last name, “del Pozo”—”pozo” meaning “well” in Spanish. It’s a metaphor for drawing from deep sources of knowledge, community, and personal growth. Of The Well Labs is where those ideas converge.

In this month’s round-up, I share new and revisited lessons inspired by my day-to-day work as a senior clinical program manager, including interesting gems from journals, podcasts, books, social media, etc., that I consumed in April. This includes some fun behavior change principles and ways to increase your personal power…so let's go!

Newsworthy 📰

“Executive dysfunction does not discriminate.” - Anonymous.

That quote is all too resonant (the millennial urge to add “lol” to the end of that sentence to soften the blow). Executive dysfunction has prevented me from doing things I dread (making doctor’s appointments, paying a bill, the rightfully unsexy stuff) as equally as it has from doing things I love, like meaningful work I’ve done.  

Let’s get right to it: I’m officially a published author!!!

I partnered with an industrial/organizational psychology team at Colorado State University to research burnout among occupational therapy practitioners. We identified specific occupational therapy roles, settings, and job characteristics related to burnout and job crafting behaviors that may help reduce burnout.

Over four years later (research is a long game, I fear), we were finally published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT). I got wind of the good news on December 31st—a perfect way to close out 2024. 

So it’s never too late to share how incredibly proud I am of our work and how happy I am to ✨finally✨share it with the world.

Moving from crust → core (behavior change)

We can think about behavior change solutions using the Earth’s geology. If you remember your 2nd grade science classes, you learned about the layers of the Earth—the crust, mantle, and core.

You know what they say: information doesn’t change behavior. It’s purpose that drives behavior change. We might approach solving problems superficially without realizing the bottom line. 

It’s not about just losing weight or reducing pain—the crust—but the layers of “why” that go past the mantle and deep into the core. This is a crucial aspect in understanding how to drive behavior change. 

Loading users with more information might deter them, especially when information is dumped on them without recognizing the users’ current and past experiences with said behavior, readiness to change, understanding of the core purpose, and clear next steps.

The Five Whys exercise is an excellent tool for exploring the root cause of a behavior, habit, or problem by asking "why?" five times (or as many times as needed) in succession. It’s used to uncover the deeper motivations behind actions or obstacles.

The example below, crafted by none other than my lovely ChatGPT, illustrates the five whys in action:

Behavior: “I keep skipping my morning runs.”

1. Why do I keep skipping my morning runs?
   → Because I feel too tired when I wake up.
   

2. Why do I feel too tired when I wake up?
   → Because I’m going to bed too late.
   

3. Why am I going to bed too late?
   → Because I get sucked into watching Netflix or scrolling on my phone.
   

4. Why do I get sucked into my phone at night?
   → Because it’s the only time I get to relax. (classic tale of revenge scrolling!)
   

5. Why is it the only time I get to relax?
   → Because my workday is too packed, I don’t give myself breaks.

The issue isn't just motivation or willpower. Your body needs more rest!!! Addressing that may make morning runs easier. Of course, 101 other factors could block you from making your morning runs (maybe you actually don’t like running), so bear that in mind.

Moving from trees → forests (personal power)

Let’s say you’re in charge of developing the strategy for approaching a new business vertical. Suppose you fuss about every tree trunk, root, and branch. You get caught in busy work that feels productive, but you’re no closer to defining your strategy. 

In that case, you miss out on the vital work: evaluating forests to understand the broader implications that can be more useful for long-term vision and strategy.

A balance of concrete and abstract thinking is essential for success. Abstract thinking helps one understand the big picture, while concrete thinking helps one execute the plan. 

Abstract thinking can:

• Increase your sense of personal power

• Help you make a higher impact

• Help you identify your values

Lemme explain how.

Researchers from Radboud University in the Netherlands conducted a series of experiments on the bidirectional relationship between personal power and abstract thinking. In their first two experiments, they found that having participants think in terms of ‘‘why’’ made them feel more powerful and made them more interested in a high-power role than having them think in terms of ‘‘how.’’ You focus on the forest when you’re in charge of the trees. 

According to Chris Lipp, the author of The Science of Personal Power, your behavior signals your personal power, thus making you appear more valuable. 

📝 Lipp suggests the following practice: Physically write down a few of your top values before big events, like a presentation or job interview. Then, choose your most important personal value in life, and reflect on why this value is essential to you and your life.

Engaging in abstract thinking can help you make a higher impact. The Netherlands study showed that abstract-thought priming involves thinking about high-level goals and values. In contrast, concrete thought priming involves thinking about details of specific procedures. 

Another way abstract thinking can enrich us is by helping us identify our values. Do not underestimate the power of identifying your values!!!! When you do so, you anchor deeper into yourself, yielding more confidence. 

Real-life example: I once gave an in-service to a cohort of occupational therapy master's students at Colorado State University on preventing burnout before they began their fieldwork (clinical rotations are needed to graduate). I kicked it off with a values exercise that applied to but extended beyond career values. I received positive feedback about that exercise, which helped students feel confident about attaining agency when finding the ideal job-person fit. 

Of course there’s a time and place for concrete thought. It’s needed for tangible actions, specific steps, and measurable outcomes. This is essential to getting sh*t done, useful for execution, and producing tangible results. On the other hand, abstract thought provides a broader understanding, helps identify patterns, and can lead to more creative solutions.

PSST: If you’re interested in exploring values further, let me know (hit me up at ofthewelllabs[at]gmail[dot]com), and I can put something focused together.

Aspirin → vitamins

Over the years, I've consumed countless podcasts, books, and lectures, and I've learned something crucial about human behavior, especially about marketing and creating patient-centric/human-first products. 

Human beings are doing one of two things at any given time (change my mind): moving closer toward pleasure or moving further away from fear. Everything we do can be chalked up to one of those things.

When put into practice, your health product either alleviates pain (like pain) or invokes pleasure (like function and QoL). You take the aspirin to reduce symptoms, but take the vitamin to promote health. 💊

I picked up on this analogy from the The Irrational Mind podcast episode with Headspace’s Cal Thompson. This analogy works so well because it illustrates the need to understand what pain point you are solving for and when. 

For example, maybe a user’s first entry point with a health program is to reduce physical pain. As that user sees improvements in pain through a dedicated exercise program, they may start to feel better and wish to build more consistent movement routines into their schedule. They came because the pain interfered with their life, and then moved toward the health promotion realm.

When creating patient programs and mapping out patient journeys, I consider how these principles may intersect and how patients may change their priorities as they work toward their goals. There is no clear-cut transition from the metaphorical aspirin to the vitamin. It may be a bit of both, or going between them, because health is not linear.

That’s all I’ve got for this month. See you in next month’s round-up!

Take care,

<3 Erika

Thank you for reading. I’m Erika del Pozo—occupational therapist, clinical strategist, and your go-to gal for human-first healthcare in a tech-driven world. I'm here to build smarter, more compassionate care experiences—because patients deserve nothing less.