[logshipper]

> Easy resets for when you fall off.

I like this feature.

When the pandemic first hit, I realized how important routines and (associated) metrics would be in keeping me afloat in a tumultuous time. To that end, I built my own little CLI-based habit/checklist tracker and started analyzing trends and habits on a weekly and monthly basis.

It worked great at first, I had a privileged insight into my week and could therefore fine-tune parameters to optimize for certain metrics. However, as the pandemic dragged on, the drudgery of waking up from my bed and working from my desk (which is a foot away [0]) eventually caught up to me and I started burning out. Looking back, a relentless pursuit to optimize for certain KPIs was part of the reason. Having successfully mechanized a large of my life with little room for error (for fear of rebuke from those pretty charts in Tableau), I started dreading those weekly-check ins with myself, eventually dropping the habit altogether. My tracker went poof soon after that. After all, there will be no rebuke from a chart if there is no chart to begin with :))

A couple months later, I cleared the backend database, and started anew. I had also come to realize over this "break" that I should not tie my self-worth to some graphs [1], and if I was getting the important stuff done, I had little to worry about. My "system" since then has been working fairly well, I use Trello to keep track of stuff, and if something super alarming pops up, I investigate. If not, I let things flow.

I believe it would help your user retention massively if you could remind users you are not a drill sergeant, but are there to help. And part of helping them is to sometimes remind them that (bad) metrics are not a judgement of their character and its okay to let things slide. You can always start anew.

Good luck to y'all, I wish you well! :)

[0] - I am an undergrad living in off-campus housing. Real-estate is unfortunately an expensive luxury at my time in life.

[1] - I recommend Jenny Odell's book "How to do Nothing" to anyone feeling like they are on a never-ending treadmill. There are parts of it that I didn't like, but all in all, it was a good read.

[alexose]

You articulated a real concern of mine. At the end of the day, literally everything I set out to do seems to turn into a programming problem. Trying to get healthy? Better find the exact right diet and workout routine. Learning guitar? Better find the exact combination of scales and chords to practice.

And like every programming problem, it's only fun until I find the answer. Then it becomes maintenance work, slotted alongside all of the five million other tasks I have to keep up with: Doomed to be ignored, dismissed, or otherwise forgotten about.

I realize there is a serious flaw in my approach to building good habits. The way to circumvent it is by decoupling process from results, and finding joy in the mere act of doing.

Still, it's so hard to do when trying to improve at something. The urge to optimize is pervasive.

[gokulprabh]

Definitely that's how I think about it too. I use my weekly check ins to revise or remove goals all the time. We're going for kindergarten teacher vibes over drill sergeant.

Also we live in NYC and are acutely familiar with [0] LOL

[dhanush_rad]

Really helpful tip that we should remind users we're not a drill sergeant and that your productivity scores don't equal your identity.

We don't yet have a profile page in the app, but when we build it, we want it to represent the user's identity with a lot of fidelity, which will include creative, professional, or personal milestones alongside productivity data that the user wants to showcase.

I.e. sometimes you will be proud of yourself for a cessation streak, but sometimes you will want to proudly display a new artwork that is difficult to map to your productivity data.