Good habits part 2: I’m now using http://streak.ly #lifehack
Around new year this year I wrote that I would be filling out a weekly “habit card” in my post entitled NY Resolutions UPDATE! #lifehack. The idea was that this year I would commit not to necessarily doing lots of good things (like eating healthier, getting up earlier, and exercising more etc.) but that I would keep a record of how much of each I did.
I made these business cards with little check boxes and ticked off something when I had done it. It worked reasonably well when I remembered to take my week’s card with me, and fill it in at the end of each day. Often however I didn’t.
This lasted 3 months, I’m fitter, healthier, and more aware of what I’m doing than before. However my system didn’t offer much much feedback (i.e. the benefit of filling out the cards isn’t actually profound). On weeks where I ate healthily and exercised I was incentivised to record it, like a little pat on the back. When I had a bad week though I slipped, and sometimes completely forgot to start again the following week. The system was too “chunky”; a week is too long. It was also too “clunky”; you don’t want to have to remember a special little card and a pen wherever you go.
As of today I’m adjusting my approach. I found a tool on the web called streak.ly.
It’s basically the same thing except:
- It’s daily, not weekly.
- It’s web based so I can do it on my iPhone or at my computer, no need to remember cards and a pen.
- It asks you every day “have you completed your tasks?” by email.
- There’s a community there.
- It turns the whole thing into a game. The aim is to get the longest streak of each activity e.g. 10 days in a row.
