Full disclosure: This is my Kickstarter project but I also have a useful hack I want to share regardless:
One day, I realized that despite having 3 reminders set on my phone to “do pushups & take vitamins,” I STILL WASN’T DOING IT. So I did a little brainstorming and came up with a simple idea:
1. I chose a goal I could do every day (e.g. push-ups, vitamins, gratitude, meditation, floss, etc...)
2. I wore a rubber band on my right wrist to remind myself to do your goal (makes it impossible to forget since you see it all day)
This gives you a daily goal to get the rubber band from your right wrist to your left wrist and the only time you're allowed to switch it is AFTER YOU DO YOUR DAILY GOAL (pushups, meditation, etc...)
This ended up being very effective for me (I've done morning push-ups for 235 days in a row, I track it in a notebook) that I became tired of wearing a rubber band every day and decided to create a nicer version of the same concept. I called it a FLIP BAND and just launched my first kickstarter for it today (link above if you're interested - the video is pretty fun I think).
If you're not interested in this product, that's fine, just try doing this with a rubber band — I'm telling you, it sounds silly but it works. It serves as a trigger for your habit and gives you positive reinforcement which will strengthen the likeliness of sticking to your goal.
I originally had no intention of turning this into a product but after seeing how effective it was for a few of my friends (close to 20 now), I thought "heck, why not?" So here I am, launching a Kickstarter, and sharing it with the Product Hunt community.
If you like it, share it. If you have feedback or criticism, leave a comment and we can have a discussion.
Have an awesome 2015 :) And remember... a year from now, you'll wish you had started today.
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NINJA EDIT: Added word "kickstarter" to first line to be as upfront as possible.
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Great Idea Victor. Sometimes low tech is the best tech. Your approach is very similar to Nissan's Red Thumb movement (to stop texting and driving): http://www.nissanusa.com/redthumb/
I've been trying this rubber band technique too and it is frustratingly effective. My goal's pretty simple (dance, for at least 5 minutes a day), and what I find happens is I'll totally have forgotten to do it after a day in front of the computer. And then when I'm brushing my teeth at night and I see the rubber band, I'm like oh crap and I end up dancing in my PJs.
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