This release adds two new community features to each goal. One, there is now a question and answer component so that you can get advice from people who are in the goal with you. Two, for inspiration, you can now see people who have been active in the goal with you.
Read on for more background on how we see community.
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Let me start with Q&A. In this new feature, any person can ask a question and and any person (usually in the goal with them) can answer. This is a form of peer-to-peer coaching and it has a long history the world of human potential.
Often an expert is in charge of the theory and structure of your training program, but has no idea what everyday challenges you might be facing. The personal example I always give comes from when I went vegan. The piece of information that was most useful was, “Where do my vegan coworkers eat lunch?”
You’re not going to find that information in a book, but you will find that from your peers.
We’ve seeded this feature with questions that were asked and answered from our old discussions feature (which we’ve replaced with Q&A). I often find inspiration while reading other people’s questions. But if you don’t see your question, I’m positive that the Lift community can help you.
If you’ve followed our previous explanations of coaching based on the BMAT model (an applied psychology model from BJ Fogg at Stanford), then you’ll recognize that this feature has a lot to do with ability (the A in BMAT). Achieving goals is about knowing what to do as it is with being motivated to do it.
We’re excited to unleash the brains of the Lift community for the purposes of increasing ability for people’s goals everywhere. In that regard, this is the most significant feature we’ve ever released.
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Regarding showing active users in each goal, this is redo of an old feature, but with a new theory.
Last time, we had this feature we were thinking about the motivational impact of receiving props from strangers (a form of positive reinforcement). In truth, this was of mixed value.
But there was another positive effect that we overlooked.
Showing active users in each goal fits into our coaching model under the power of belief change (this part comes from a different Stanford researcher, Carol Dweck).
We all come to our goals with doubts and we want to make it patently obvious that achieving the goal is possible. Lift is full of other people just like you. If they can make progress today, then so can you.
Or, as I’ve been telling a lot of people lately.
“I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. The good news is that you can achieve this. The bad news is that you’re going to have to get off the sofa.”
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Putting these two features into the bigger context, we’re reworking Lift to be a personal coach for any goal.
Last release was about personal accountability through tracking. This release is about peer-to-peer coaching.
We want you to succeed, especially on your hardest goals. And now, you’ve got the support of the entire Lift community.
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Last, please don’t forget to update your reviews. It’s just a couple of taps from your iPhone and we need new reviews after every release.
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To helping each other meet our potential,
Tony & Erin, Alicia, Herzog, Dan, Terrie, Jeremy, Esther
