Why your personal growth goals need a responsive design

The Health Growth Letters is a weekly publication of tips, frameworks, and lessons to help you build a more balanced life based on faith, health, and wellness. If you’ve been forwarded this email, you can subscribe here.

What’s on the agenda:

• A Verse

• A Lesson

• A Puzzle

A verse:

I read this in 1 Samuel last week, and it stood out to me.

Samuel, a prophet, is talking to the King of Israel, King Saul, after coming home from a victorious battle. Before the battle, God promises them victory, but demands that they kill everything in the village and take nothing as spoils.

After the victory, Saul returns victorious, but with the spoils of war. When confronted, Samuel rebukes him. I think there are a few interesting takeaways here:

1. Even anointed kings can think of themselves as small

“Though you are little in your own eyes”. This is what Samuel says about the king, ruler of Israel, a head taller than everyone else. We all always see ourselves as small, but I also think we think that matters. The reality it isn’t about how big, strong, or capable we are; it’s about what God can do through us and whether or not we believe it.

We all have a calling and purpose that God has given us. We are anointed with a mission as well.

2. Leaders are responsible for more than their own actions

“I have obeyed the voice of the Lord,”… “but the people”. King Saul, the leader of the people, comes back from the battle and tells a partial truth. On one hand, he did do what he was told, but as a leader, he did not lead others to do the same.

I think we often write off our own actions or responsibility when it comes to our sins or shortcomings. Yet the reality is, as leaders and believers, we’re responsible for our actions and the aroma around us.

We should be defaulting to responsibility, not pushing off blame like Saul or Adam in the Garden of Eden.

A lesson: mobile-first design

I have a MASSIVE pet peeve when it comes to growth and web design, and it’s building designs on desktop first.

Did you know that over 60% of all website traffic is on mobile, and that when you look at e-commerce (online shopping), it’s over 75%? That means that for every four people who visit your website, three of them are looking at it on their phone.

It used to be that people converted at a higher rate on desktops than on mobile devices, but that’s changing. Roughly 50-55% of purchases happen on mobile devices now.

So what’s my point?

My point is that the mobile user experience is far more important than the desktop experience.

Yet everyone builds a desktop first!

It’s asinine.

Here’s an example:

I blocked him out because this guy isn’t the only one… literally every web design project I see seems to start with desktop, and the mobile (or responsive) experience is simply an afterthought.

If you are a web designer, marketer, or growth specialist, for the love of all data and performance, please start with your responsive or mobile design.

However, as I reflect on this (far too often), I realize that the same problem exists in our personal growth.

Are you building your life around a desktop experience?

The same problem exists in lifestyle design and personal growth - we build for our “desktop” experiences before our “mobile” experience.

What I mean by that is that we build routines, habits, diets, and goals around an ideal scenario. We don’t assume we’ll get sick, that we’ll have social engagements that keep us out late. We don’t account for dinners out. We plan on always having plenty of time to work out and work on side projects.

But that isn’t how life works. Like website traffic, our lives are mobile and responsive. 

As a result, the perfect morning routine will never work.

That detailed fitness and diet plan you’re trying to follow will get cheated on.

The project you’re trying to work on will never get finished.

It’s because those plans are built around static, perfect scenarios where intention is high.

Unfortunately, they rarely exist.

Components of a good mobile site

I want to help you build a user experience (for yourself) that optimizes for “mobile” or “responsive” design first. If you have a season of life that allows you to be more fixed and dedicated, great, do it.

But I truly believe starting with mobile plans and experience design will result in better outcomes over the long run. 

Here are the three design tips I’d recommend:

1. Prioritize Tap Simplicity (Touch-First Interactions)

• Mobile = thumbs.

• Big buttons. Big touch targets.

• Avoid crowded elements or tiny links.

• Design for one-handed use

• Keep core CTAs above the fold whenever possible.

2. Optimize for Speed & LoadSlow = bounce.

• 3-second load time or less

• Optimize images, reduce scripts, and lazy load non-critical assets.

• Use caching, CDN, and modern frameworks that serve mobile efficiently.

3. Clear Visual Hierarchy

• Mobile screens are small → seek clarity first

• Each screen should have one primary focus: read, click, swipe, submit, etc.

• Use strong headings, short text blocks, and generous spacing.

• Keep forms minimal — fewer fields, use autofill, and smart defaults.

• Use progressive disclosure: show only what’s needed at each step.

A Puzzle:

A rebus is a puzzle that uses pictures, symbols, and/or letters to represent words or parts of words. The challenge of the puzzle is to decipher the hidden meaning behind the symbols and solve the puzzle.

Here’s this week’s puzzle:

The answer will be given in next week’s letter.

The answer to last week’s puzzle was “a big fuss over nothing”.