This release includes an experiment in small encouragements on your main habits screen. The release also includes:
- Bios on profiles.
- Significant overall speed increase by reducing how much data the app updates from every time it is brought forward.
- Support for links in notes and bios (e.g. link to a map of your run or ride).
- Fix a bug where the profile photos of people who commented linked to only the creator of the check-in.
The small encouragements in this release let you know when you’re coming up on an important new milestone.
Some people who research super human achievement focus on something they call the 10,000 hour rule (the amount of work it takes to develop a genius level skill). But what about when that super human person got to 5 hours or 100 hours of practice. Weren’t those important early milestones?
It’s the same with days in Lift. Your first check-in is the most important. Your third is when your momentum starts building. You have to get to a five day streak before you achieve a 21 day streak.
One of the most common requests we get are from people who want Lift to work for non-daily goals. Of course, technically, Lift has always worked for non-daily goals (I tracked bowling last year and checked in twice, with scores of 100 and 120).
What these people are really saying is that they want our award system, which prior to today has just been about uninterrupted streaks, to work with non-daily goals. For example, for most people, success in the Get to work by 9am goal is hitting 5 days in a week.
The obvious solution would be to present you with a survey when you join a habit in Lift so that we can collect your intentions. Nearly every designer we’ve ever talked to has suggested this. And every time it gets suggested, I step in and block it.
I’ve been really stubborn on this point because once you enter your intentions you have to start managing and editing them. At that point, Lift stops being a very simple goal tracker and starts being accounting software.
Plus, I think there’s a better way.
Somewhere in today’s encouragements and the revisions to follow, there’s a way to make racking up five day streaks for your work goals feel good, while also acknowledging that a 500 day streak of Inbox Zero is a differently special accomplishment.
Enjoy the rest of your day, and if possible, get to work on your habits. You’ll be happier for the accomplishment.
(P.S., regarding the 500 day streak of Inbox Zero, Lift’s co-founder/CTO actually did that. He’s crazy organized.)
