What approaches have you used before to record your to-do tasks? We interview Fourdesire’s user experience architect XY and To-do Adventure’s user A, also an office worker, to find out how they build good habits and break bad ones by developing self-awareness and setting micro goals.
Build good habits by making goals tangible
Fourdesire’s user experience architect XY is responsible for designing the interactive features and content of the company’s products. She has built several good habits using To-do Adventure, such as:
- Read for 10 minutes every day
- Meditate for 10 minutes before going to work
- Stand against the wall for 10 minutes after dinner
- Share 1 best thing with friends everyday
To-do Adventure helps users plan a task and discover new lands. Each item on the to-do list becomes a part of the new island’s landscape, i.e.:
- Finish important tasks and you might erect a mountain.
- Save it for another day and you may get a river.
- Keep at it and you will discover a long, winding path.
For XY, 10 minutes are the best length of time for each small task according to her lifestyle and ability. To-do Adventure visualizes “delay” and “cancel” by using cable cars and xx to represent delayed and unfinished tasks respectively. This helps her check the goals left unachieved every day while gaining a sense of achievement little by little from collecting the islands.
Tips
Add a specific use scenario and time to your tasks. For example, put down “drink 600ml of water before lunch time” rather than “drink more water” or “walk for 15 minutes after dinner” instead of “do more exercise”. The easier the task, the quicker you can turn it into a good habit!
Break the habit of crossing legs step by step
User A shares the process of breaking bad habits using To-do Adventure. When adding a new task, most people create the list using “Do…”. However, A does it the other way round by using “Don’t…”.
For example, initially A only put down “quit sugar” and “don’t cross legs” in her list and set a reminder recurring every day. However, quitting sugar completely was way too hard! In contrast, she found that the rate of accomplishment increased after she set the goal to quit sugary drinks first.
To break the habit of crossing legs, A shares the settings in her To-do Adventure.
- For the main goal: A daily morning reminder “Don’t cross legs”.
- For the minor goal: A daily bedtime reminder “Don’t cross legs more than 3times a day and for more than 30 seconds per time”.
By creating minor goals that are easier to achieve, you can reduce the sense of guilt when breaking the rules. The use of numbers also helps form a norm so you’ll be aware of it immediately when falling into the bad habit again.
User A:
By creating minor goals, I can be sure that I am still moving towards the main goal even if I break the rules.
Tips
- Using minor actions to help you break bad habits can reduce the difficulty level of the tasks as well as the frustration due to unfinished tasks.
- Specify the number of times and time period for the tasks.
Declutter trivia
The more to-do tasks are delayed, the more cable cars and xx appear in To-do Adventure. Don’t be upset or blame yourself. First, you can check which tasks have always remained unfinished and what causes the delay.
The “magnificent” view of cable cars shared by the To-do Adventure user.
When you can separate the vast amount of trivia from the small amount of important work, you will be able to get things done more efficiently!
Related post: Don’t Rush to Eliminate Tasks on Your To-do List. Use Fourdesire’s 4 Tips to Find Your Own Pace.
Create a great landscape for your life
To-do Adventure records your to-do tasks faithfully and turns them into a unique landscape.
XY uses To-do Adventure to build the habit of sharing one best thing with friends everyday such as nice food or interesting stuff to double the fun.
Experiencing different kinds of fun in everyday life enables you to create a better life. Share with us if you have other unique ways to use To-do Adventure!
