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Show HN: I gamified a habit tracker to fight procrastination
- marclou 5y agoHey HN, I'm Marc. It's unreal how game features like quests can get us to play for hours to earn some gold (WoW dailies anyone?) What if we use these hacks to do things that are good for us, like working out or reading a book? That's why I created Habits Garden: To help you form habits while having fun. How does it work? 1. Create your habits 2. Complete dailies to earn some gems 3. Buy flowers to grow a wonderful garden 4. Be consistent to unlock special/unique flowers 5. Visit your friends' gardens to see their progress (coming soon) I hope it will work for you as well as it does for me and other users. If you have any good or bad feedback, I have no ego, be straight-forward :)
- ZeroGravitas 5y agoIs there any good sources on why these things work? Like I saw a condolences card that someone made for a colleague that lost his wordle streak. What's actually going on there in that person's brain, why do they view this as a loss to be mourned or a failure while happily ignoring other things that may be healthier options?
- hackernewds 5y agoStreaks. I use a really good habit tracking app (not going to steal poster's thunder here again) which is based on streaks. Has helped me at least maintain and build habits due to the loss aversion of some arbitrary streaks!
- ZeroGravitas 5y agoYeah, but why do we like being consistent? Does this mean that you could give up smoking faster of you intentionally 'broke your streak' of bad stuff? Can you train yourself to have an arbitrary tic like touching the top of a doorframe every time you walk through using the same system?
- marclou 5y agoWhich app do you use that's good for streaks? Habits Garden has also a streak counter per habit and you can achieve special quests for maintaining your streak for xyz days :)
- _bfhp 5y agoIt takes too much scrolling to see an end result of all the habits. Put a preview of someone's sick 6-months-in-the-works garden close to the top, that's what I'd sign up for. Loot boxes you can buy with gems offering limited time flowers would be a hit I think
- MisterSandman 5y agoLooks like a simpler, straight-forward version of Habits in Habaitica. So pretty awesome, I would say!
- marclou 5y ago[dead]
- nnx 5y agoInteresting design. Will give it a try. Any plans for a iOS app?
- marclou 5y ago[dead]
- senectus1 5y agoI think there is too little reward/gamification in the free tier and also the pay for tier is too much also for too little gamification/reward
- marclou 5y agoToo little gamification on - the habit tracker - the garden game Do I get your point correctly?
- senectus1 5y agoyup. also there is no real "competitive" nature to it. I want to be able to beat it, beat someone else. as for price. if it was around $2 a month I might pay for it. its quite likely I'd pay for it and not feel guilty about forgetting i've paid for it, which means i'd keep coming back to it after forgetting about it...
- marclou 5y ago[dead]
- ekianjo 5y agoI don't believe this would work to fight procrastination for more than a few days. Just like all gamification systems, they are very limited and won't change your inner motivation.
- historia_novae 5y ago$9 (or $6 if paid annually) per month is very expensive, especially for an app that should be a one time payment. I'll stick with my green square grid inside OneNote.
- bayesianbot 5y agoReally nice! I've been thinking of habit gamification like this for a long time but never got too far as.. well, procrastination. Hopefully I can stick with using this instead. As you don't have mobile apps yet I have one far out suggestion that is easy to implement and in my tests worked much better than I ever though it would. It's possible to create two kind of menus in Telegram chats[0]. For my start of a habit tracker my bot sent me possible actions (as in habits) to our chat, and I could just click what I'd done and that's it. Works on both on mobile and desktop and just takes a second. It's possible to keep a permanent menu below the typing area and attach an inline menu on a message, so I kept my habits in permanent menu and possible follow-up actions (leave a note, cancel the action, stop taking time) in the reply to a confirmation of selected action. I know it's strange suggestion but I've been thinking and implementing different ways to make use of that menu system as I was blown away how it worked and with just a few lines of code. [0] https://hetzger.ohmycron.xyz/web/telegram_menu.png https://hetzger.ohmycron.xyz/web/telegram_menu.png
- marclou 5y ago[dead]
- Delgan 5y agoOne month ago, I spent hours testing dozens of apps for "gamified todo list". I could not find any that would perfectly suits my needs (Habitica is too gamified for example). Your app looks very promising. Polished UI. Intuitive. Unlimited habits. Simple "task -> award" principle without added complexity layers. Something I'm having trouble finding in the apps I've tried is the distinction between "habit" and "task". An habit is something I want to do multiple time in a week. While a task is a one-shot TODO that I would like to execute at some point when I'm not procrastinating. Once done, I don't need to repeat it, but I like to be rewarded. Your application seems to be more habit oriented. Is the notion of a one-time task something you could eventually incorporate?
- ZeroGravitas 5y agoBreaking one time tasks into small chunks that could become a habit to start on at specific times might be worth looking into. Similar to writers who write for an hour every day even when not motivated.
- LegoZombieKing 5y agoI have been in the same boat of trying to gamify my to-do list. So far I have been working with progress bars and goals to try and find a way to motivate me to get things done. I realized that the hardest thing is getting the long term goals to feel like a simple activity for today, bringing the 3+ month goal into a simple “read a few pages today” type of habit. I also created a simple spreadsheet app that focuses specifically on the progress you made today in relation to your goal. The progress you make today is a different color. Instead of estimating how long it will take to complete the goal with your average, I use the amount done today. So after every addition page read you can see the amount of days left to finish the book go down. I also added a little bit of motivation text that says “if you read X more pages you will be done Y days faster. If you use the “MIT”(Most Important Task) type of system , then you could make it a daily habit to complete your top 2-3 MITs for the day.
- shaolinspirit 5y agoI'm currently building a habit tracking app as well, mainly for myself. I like the simplicity of this one and the nice animations.
- marclou 5y ago[dead]
- ZeroGravitas 5y agoAmazon had a thing where they would send you a physical button to re-order subscription items. I wonder if you could do the same for this. I don't want to pull out my phone to tick a box. I want it to get ticked automatically when I do something. The reason I don't get into these is that I want an API so that it can hook into other things. But I see why an app is easier to start with. But maybe a programmer focused habit tracker with an API is a niche. Some kind of payment system where it takes a tiny payment every time you actually achieve a step towards your goal seems like it would align incentives too. Also, if you can track sleep/exercise/happiness I'd wonder if you could demonstrate what makes an individual, or people in general happier. Big task I know, but I think Google Fit and that ring mounted mood tracker is aiming for something like this.
- BrandoElFollito 5y agoA lot of this is done with home automation where you have physical buttons (zigbee, rf433) or sensors (rfid) doing <something> The something can be logging the fact, displaying it, ... Your imagination is the limit. A great product to stay with us Home Assistant (https://www.home-assistant.io/ https://www.home-assistant.io/)
- marclou 5y agoThese a good points! Habits Garden could see an API integration with Zapier, who knows? Just curious, what would be the shape of that physical button you'd tap when you're done with a habit?
- ZeroGravitas 5y agoA large red button that you can slap with gusto seems appropriate, especially for finishing excercise, but anything that can be incorporated into the activity is good.
- marclou 5y ago[dead]
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- chrsig 5y agoPerson with adhd here -- The good: I really appreciate that the free trial doesn't require a credit card/just freezes the features until an opt-in for a subscription. The bad: i think there's a bit of a bootstrapping problem here...You want me to set up a system to make me do more stuff? I'll get started on that later ;)
- hackernewds 5y agosimilar boat. The trick to counter the bad I've found is to do these setups when my brain is tired, and in "delusions of grandeur" mode - which is at 2-3AM. The Habit app on Android has really helped me stick to some tough good habits and give up some bad ones.
- marclou 5y ago[dead]
- tobyhinloopen 5y agoCool idea, i’ll be sure to start using it tomorrow
- marclou 5y ago[dead]
- rambambram 5y agoNice work! These 'habit tracking' concepts/products always have my attention. I built one myself 10 years ago - only personal use, but still using it - and I had big plans. I'm a bit cynical now, about habit apps. I think they act more like a coping mechanism, a stress center, a buffer, etc. I also thought about more gamification to make it easier. Now, I think that's a slippery slope. I mean, what is it: a tracking app, or a game!? To me, they are opposites now. Gaming is for fun, changing habits is not a fun process. It's a serious and important process, but not fun. Free kudos (basically pixels on a screen) are not going to change that, but maybe that's just my cynical side speaking. What I did found out was that my app was perfect for tracking expenses and putting spent money in neat boxes. It became more of a personal finance app this way. It became a general tracking app, without the habit changing part. Another thing that I found out: I used procrastination as a means to change some habits. I gave myself points for procrastinating that next cup of coffee, for example. So maybe the gamification angle can work, I still don't know. Also, changing habits is an all-encompassing process. Change of environment, inner change, change of deeper layers (which might be the root cause of some habits), etc. I wondered a lot if a tracking app can be enough. Then there's two important distinctions I found. The distinction between an app for habits in general, and an app for specific habits. I see you also chose the general path, with a multitude of habits that one can track. I chose that direction too, and I noticed that there's too much of a difference between habits. Drinking alcohol for example is different than eating too much junk, although they might seem similar. The distinction between habits that you want to quit, and the habits you want to do more. Completely different approach. Although I still think there's power in swapping one for the other. Eat an apple instead of smoking a cigarette. Go to the gym instead of hanging out and drinking beers. Etc. And at last, what's a habit? Is someone smoking cigarettes a habit or an addiction? Is "read books" (as I saw on your homepage) a habit, or just an act that you do? I don't want to discourage you or other people, these are just some thoughts I had that might be of value. Good luck! P.S. One of the main takes I learned, was that some kind of external thing can really help with changing habits. I noticed people with Apple Watches who took there exercise/fitness way more serious because that device gave you rainbows, fireworks and other colorful pixels when you reached some walking target or something. The tracking is done for you, there's no work entering stuff yourself, so only the shiny rainbow at the end. I myself really liked entering the stuff, but the positive kudos are linked to the act of entering, not to the habit changing.
- rustybolt 5y agoLooks really polished and very easy to sign up. On the other hand, deleting your account is a terrible experience.
- medimikka 5y agoHere's a habit I have gotten into: not paying $9/month for someone's code, in perpetuity, if the data are locked behind that payment. And, for all that is holy, please stop trying to convince me to pay by using lines like "for less than two cups of coffee." Where I come from, that's as much as a family of four has for dinner, many days. It's what 85% of the world and 65% of the US have per day for non-mandatory spending. It's pretty damn privileged to worry about gamifying habit tracking and justifying it with $4.50 coffees.
- marclou 5y agoYou can choose to pay for the game after the free trial is over but the Habit Tracker is (and will always be) 100% free. Thanks for your feedback :)
- JanSt 5y agoDo you offer your work for free? It‘s a fair comparison for EU+US market in my eyes. For EU customers data export has to be possible
- thyrox 5y agoBe honest OP you were making this to actually procrastinate on whatever it is you had to be actually doing at that time, didn't you? :P nah I'm just kidding, this looks like a wonderful site and congrats on completion and launch!
- peppermint_tea 5y agobeing an active procrastinator, this made me laugh.
- danuker 5y agoI was in the same boat. This might help you: consciously reduce the baseline stimulation level, and the cravings will greatly reduce. https://www.deprocrastination.co/blog/how-to-use-boredom-to-procrastinate-less https://www.deprocrastination.co/blog/how-to-use-boredom-to-...
- bratwurst3000 5y agoAs a professional procrastinator I have no respekt for people finishing things while procrastinating. I am writing a book about how to procrastinate properly but I will start tomorrow…
- oliwary 5y agoSounds like rookie-level procastination to me - I will decide when I will start writing my book tomorrow. ;)
- Gasp0de 5y agoI think its fair to ask for payment, but I think it should be waaaay cheaper. I know a few maintainers of really good, productive open source software, and some of them earn about 4000-5000€ per month from it. I feel like 1€ per month would be a price that I'm both willing to pay and feels fair towards the developer. If they can get a few thousand users they could make this their only job, and it doesn't feel like this is a site that would require multiple employees.
- marclou 5y ago[dead]
- anthk 5y agohttps://github.com/pickfire/spt https://github.com/pickfire/spt Enjoy.
- peppermint_tea 5y agoI will not use it since I am already an organized person, but I absolutely love the default user name the author put in the login section.
- marclou 5y ago[dead]
- gverrilla 5y ago"Completing my habits is the first thing I think about when I wake up" god
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- beaconstudios 5y agoThis seems nice - it blends the features of Habitica and Forest that I find useful, and it's always great to see more innovation in the anti-procrastination space.
- Forgeties79 5y agoHabitica has gotten so busy/complicated for my tastes. When it was HabitRPG it was a little leaner in a way that my ADHD really needed. Definitely going to try this one out and see if it’s better suited.
- beaconstudios 5y agoThey certainly do have a lot going on. I'm in a party so I still use it, but I only really use the dailies now.
- marclou 5y ago[dead]
- endisneigh 5y agoI find it kind of funny these sorts of things give you points, to then waste your time planting or creating things. I'm curious if people who actually, consistently get all of their stuff done use these sort of things.
- marclou 5y ago[dead]
- servytor 5y agoHabitica[0] is free and a semi-idle RPG basically, it's pretty cool. Also has a slick iOS app. [0]: https://habitica.com/static/home https://habitica.com/static/home
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- lifeisstillgood 5y agoDon't fight procrastination. If you are putting off work, it's because it is not aligned with your needs. Chnage your job.
- dazc 5y agoProcrastination stems from a wide spectrum of underlying causes though, from serious depression to temporary boredom. I've experienced both extremes and one is much easier to manage than the other. Changing your job may, sometimes, be the answer and, then again, it might not be?
- ffhhj 5y agoWhat if procastrination is recursive, you never exit it, and when you get back to work that's procastrinating away from your previous task. Your own company should ask you to work on project A instead of project B, so what you call "work" is a higher level of procastrination, that goes up to the whole objectives vs actual tasks of humankind. Procastrinate about it!
- Bellamy 5y agoI've been using Habinator a year now and it's working for me.
- marclou 5y ago[dead]
- colordrops 5y agoI really wish someone would make a generic open source Duolingo clone that works for any content. Basically something to replace Anki, which never really worked for me.
- marclou 5y ago[dead]
- jimmydddd 5y agoNice job. The interface has a nice look. Here are some others I've tried. *For Desktop https://habitica.com https://habitica.com http://dontbreakthechain.com http://dontbreakthechain.com http://tdp.me http://tdp.me * For Mobile https://www.lifehack.org/668261/best-habit-tracking-apps https://www.lifehack.org/668261/best-habit-tracking-apps
- marclou 5y ago[dead]
- mdrzn 5y agoSigned up, loved the Tove Lo - Habits reference