![]() In February I derailed with $0 and then kept on track almost all the way to the end where a minor slip cost me $5. My end date was the end of the semester in May, and I only had two slip-ups in that time. My dots hug the yellow brick road, though usually on the right side of it, thank goodness. You can see from the graph above that this was not an easy habit for me. So I began experimenting with pomodoros to shape my work day and increase my productivity. ![]() Given that I often work alone, at a computer, it’s easy for me to lose focus. I also wanted to eat more veggies and work with more focus using theĪs a university professor, I work on a semester schedule and often set short-term goals for myself. I wanted to pray for two minutes in the evening - a difficult time for me given that I often work nights and when I don’t, I have two kids and a husband needing my attention. My initial goals were small, measurable, and very reasonable, as I didn’t want to start by failing. (I’m a girl easily swayed by good research findings.) Plus I was so captivated by the amount of thought and research put into Beeminder’s design that I decided to try it. I didn’t see how Beeminder could work for someone like me.īut I couldn’t find anything else that worked for me. In my day job, I rail against teachers’ overreliance on such principles, and I surely wasn’t going to start treating myself that way.īesides, I’m a rebellious type, prone to thwart rules when they become too restrictive. ![]() I quickly became a fan, but when I looked more closely at Beeminder, I recoiled.įor all the fancy psych talk about self-regulation and akrasia and motivation, underneath the system are clear behaviorist principles of reinforcement, shaping, and punishment. They freely admit when they’re wrong, and they, as tech people say, eat their own dog food. The Beeminder founders are candid and funny and humble. Intellectually, I knew that habits were the way to go.Īnd I was already pretty good at maintaining habits that were intrinsically motivating to me - doing the dishes, walking my dog - and I was great at starting new things (learn French! HIIT practice! Whole30!).īut I was still terrible at sustaining challenging habits. So I diligently read books on habit formation, from Better than Before to Habits.Įven Lean Habits, about eating behaviors. I’d forget about or be too busy to even open the app until the weekend when I’d try to enter my progress retrospectively.īut I very much needed help developing and maintaining habits. What was the consequence of not checking the button next to the habit? I started with habit trackers like Ritual and Way of Life and Habit Bull. I’ve used so many personal productivity apps! So I live and breathe motivation and self-regulation strategies. ![]() I’m a research psychologist who specializes in educational psychology, the study of learning, and instruction. She’s here to tell us about how she came to love Beeminder and why! She’s a bonafide expert in what Beeminder is trying to do.Īlso she personally is a dedicated Beeminder user for the last 3 years. ![]()
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