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Disclaimer: You can jump straight to âDay 1: My experienceâ if youâre uninterested in the history.
History: The back story
Near the end of last year, I went through an unhealthy habit of wasting a lot of time and money by indulging myself with nights out with friends. I would spend about 2â3 nights out weekly (usually Fridays and Sundays).
On top of this unhealthy layer of bad decisions, I adopted an even more interesting one: About halfway through the evening, albeit incredibly dangerous, I would abandon my friend group and take a lone walk through the city.
Identifying my priorities
Going out and, dare I say, being surrounded by an unproductive atmosphereâŠand being unproductive myself, would put me in an unbent state of reflection.
What am I doing? Why am I doing what Iâm doing? What do I want to be doing?
âŠItâs time for a walk. The answers to those questions became clear on about my third walk, which is when I stopped the habit:
- Iâm wasting time and money.
- Iâm under the illusion that this is the best way to spend my time off, and that itâs a good way to be social.
- Building things, and building valuable social networks.
And those (3), were the end of how I identified my 2 main priorities. âIf you have more than 3 priorities, you have noneââââJim Collins
A turning point
On 28th November 2018 (uncoincidentally the date of my birthday), as a protest to indulgence in the unproductiveâââI attended two meetups in the city. I had done photography for both of the meetups, and had learnt a bucket load from both. I came home feeling super productive.
It begged the question: how, or why did I become so productive in that one day. What was the difference?
It was mindfulness. I was in the present on that day. Birthdayâs for males in their twenties are notoriously unproductive, and I knew that before the day, and I knew it on the dayâââI was fully aware.
The realisation came: Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.âââSun Tzu, The Art of War
Prior to my birthday, I had not been winning my days before they started. I just dangerously went along, and lived as the hours passed.
In comes the app
I became greedy after my birthday. I wanted the awareness I had that day, everyday.
There was no shining moment of realisationâŠit was really simple. âWhat if I reminded myself to be productive a few times everyday?â. Sure, that would work, but it wouldnât be powerful enoughâââI would end up turning the reminder off.
I changed it up a little bit: âWhat if, regardless of what Iâm doing, I could ask myself if I was working towards my goals or not?â, and bingo! That sold it for me. Hereâs why:
- It would prompt me to be honest with myself and be immediately accountable.
- I would be able to record those responses and aggregate them, and would allow me to weigh in on how productive Iâve been over time.
I was blind to the biggest thing it would do for me.
Day 1: My experience
I published the app to the Google Play Store for download in the early hours of 04 Jan 2019. I was naturally the first user.
Prompt 1Â [11AM]
I got into work at 8AM on Friday, and was naturally being productive, that when the app asked me: âAre you currently doing something that works towards your goals?â, the answer was an obvious yes.
Nothing specialâââbut I couldnât hide my excitement, as it added âBeach Rdâ, the location of our office, to the list of places I had been productive.
Prompt 2Â [4PM]
A.K.A. The rude prompt. After my 4PM work beer and sustained exhaustion from travelling back home, I lay on my bed and checked my phoneâââand there it was: âAre you currently doing something that works towards your goals?â It was a difficult oneââârest is important, but I was honestâââI was planning to grab another drink later, so I gave it a No.
Whatâs interesting is what happened afterwards. Although my initial intention was to go for a drink, I asked myself âwhy?ââââand it was because I was under the illusion that my energy was spentâŠwhich didnât make sense, because being out demands energy.
I canât believe the lies I tell myself everyday.
So instead, I:
- Took a short nap, and woke up 20 minutes later
- Read 4 medium articles (This one really stuck out)
- Watched a Udemy course on UX and made some touch ups to a project from what I learnt on the course
- Played 5 games of Dota as a break, while I listened to 5 1-hour long podcasts on Indie Hackers. I really recommend these!
Prompt 3Â [9PM]
This happened as I was playing Dota. I was listening to a podcast, so I marked it as a yes.
The unexpected triumph
I woke up this morning at 7AM. Thatâs possibly 4 hours ahead of the time I wouldâve woken up had I gone out.
When I woke up, I saw all my devices on my bed (I canât rid the habit just yet), and my first instinct was to open them up and check notifications â
One of those notifications to check were if I had a productivity prompt. The thought of the prompt put me in awareness mode. âWaitâŠâ, I thought, âI should decide my priorities for the day.â
And so I did. I have design work to do for a friend, I should probably go for a walk, and read somethingâŠon that note, I should probably write something too; and wellâŠI wrote this.
The true power of the app
While the app is in its very early stages and has a super simple, almost undesigned, UI; itâs power doesnât come from itselfâââbut from the person using it; or more accurately, the userâs psychology.
The prompts, or points of mindfulness during the day serve as anchors, similar to how meditation would, but in micro doses at a higher frequency.
An illustration below, in my experience
Going about your day without intentional taps into awareness. Our world is designed to make the equilibrium impulsive. Exhaustion and distractions push you more into blindly flowing the current. (Regardless of whether itâs a good or bad one)
Meditation: Longer times practicing mindfulness
In mindful meditation, you end up training the brain to be more mindful over time using neuroplastic molding. This is not specifically for productivity, but your general mental well-being.
Foqus: More frequent, shorter bursts of mindfulness
The app brings you back into a state of awareness about your productivity at multiple points throughout the day. The cycle is more volatile, and can therefore be exhausting (an interesting problem to solve); but this is specifically directed towards productivity and anchoring you towards it.
Conclusion
This has been a game changer for me since itâs publication. Iâve only used it for 24 hours, but Iâll continue to document my experiences as I go along; and can hopefully get real data to back up the pseudoscience I used in those graphs above :)
Download the app here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.foqus.app
** Iâm busy publishing the facebook app, ask me to add you as a tester on facebook **
First day using my own app was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.