I think I'm not the target audience of the article b/c I don't particularly relate to hoping objects will 'save' me...
Our Roomba has been awesome and has inspired better home tidyness habits. Which has made me much happier with our house.
My Garmin running watch has been awesome and has inspired me to workout more, longer, and harder.
Interesting. What exactly is it about the objects that helped you get around the block of developing better tidiness or fitness habits?
In the case of tidiness, my husband and I have periodically considered various "buy new stuff" solutions like a roomba, a cleaning service, organizational systems, etc. A good chunk of the time we decide a better solution is to just have less shit that needs tidying, cleaning, or organizing. My husband has also made a good case for a tidier and simpler home being a safer home (no tripping over stuff in the dark, for example, and I know exactly where the flashlight is if the power goes out), which is a powerful motivator for staying on top of things. I suspect if we had bought a roomba right at the same time that I happened to "get" the value of tidiness in some new way, the roomba would be coinciding with more tidy behavior, and otherwise it would be gathering dust. So are you sure the roomba made you more tidy, or did you have some wake-up call about tidiness and then the roomba happened to be a good part of the solution?
Similar with a fitness tracker like a watch. I added a running app to my phone a while back and it certainly helped me in being motivated to train for a half marathon, but having a regular running date with a friend who was also training for the half marathon was probably a bigger inspiration.
I just don't think these things are going to do anything for you if you don't already have some internal switch flipped to achieve your goal. The things might helped, but if the switch is flipped you're probably going to get 85% of the way there anyway.
I do observe a LOT of people falling into the trap described in this article. And buying stuff/"treating yourself" is so often part of the advice given to people who are struggling with a problem. I so often see tips on how to motivate yourself to work out, for example, that involve buying cute new gym clothes, treating yourself to a magazine to read while on the elliptical machine, treating yourself to a manicure if you maintain a workout streak, etc. When really, you should view exercise as treating yourself to some endorphins and a longer life expectancy. If you read a mainstream article on organizing your home it will almost certainly tell you that you need to buy something (containers, a new shelving system, whatever). There will likely be discussion of decluttering but rarely will an article come out and say that a big key to staying organized is to simply buy less stuff in the first place.