Introducing: One Simple Goal
In my recent post In a rut and tired of it, I mentioned a possible solution to some nagging issues that continue to be difficult for me to overcome. May I quote:
So, here’s what I’m going to do. Set One simple goal each night before going to bed, to be completed the following day. The goal can range anywhere from spiritual to entrepreneurial. Simplicity will be favored over complexity, but I won’t be shying away from possible complex issues. The point is to do SOMETHING. It is my desire that each day I will produce a favorable gain in removing some obstacle that has stood in my way recently.
That was four days ago, and I have already been getting amazing results out of accomplishing a simple daily goal. My first four goals were: Tuesday) wake up at 8 am; Wednesday) Begin building a website to track goals, pushing it to the server; Thursday) Finalize the beta features of the website and start getting feedback from people; Friday) Contact a friend I’ve lost contact with. I have accomplished all four goals. The first and last goals were fairly simple, though still required determination to complete. The middle two goals were much more complex and time-sensitive, requiring even more determination and willpower to complete within one day. It was a good test to see how simplicity vs. complexity affects the decisions you make while accomplishing the goal.
By setting the goal to work hard on the website to get it out, I incentivized myself to put away distractions (like email, facebook, twitter) and focus more. I continually was assessing the amount of time I had to accomplish the goal, making value judgements based on the end goal I was desiring. Several times last night I had to abandon the feature I wanted to build because it was taking too long. This was a fabulous way to learn about the power of constraints that Jason Fried was talking about.
OneSimpleGoal.com - Creating a New Goal
The purpose of OneSimpleGoal.com is to provide you with an opportunity to simply set and complete daily goals. There are (and will be) very few bells and whistles to the app, I want the simplicity of the concept to shine through. As such, there isn’t much color, imagery, or content. All things are focused on you setting a goal for that day (or the next), and then empowering you to get it done. Upcoming revisions to the site will address some of your initial ideas about how to improve the site. I am so excited to have this app out early and having people using it, even in an infantile or beta state.
You can get daily updates on the status of development on the app through twitter.com/onesimplegoal and the One Simple Goal group on facebook. If you have any ideas, concerns, bug reports, testimonials, or any other feedback about the app, please let me know by commenting on this post, replying @onesimplegoal on twitter, posting to the wall on the facebook group, or emailing me at bj [dot] neilsen [at] gmail [dot] com.
Now go out and start changing your life by accomplishing your simple daily goals!
Comments are closed.
Great idea BJ. Love it! I think this is super smart. I always try and set goals for each day, but end up forgetting about them throughout the day OR I try and set long-term goals and forget about them. Here are a few of my thoughts… maybe you are already in the process of developing these ideas:
What if the widget was something you could download on your desktop and everytime I turned on my computer (every single morning), it would automatically pop up (like Southwest’s DING does on my computer)? This would definitely force me to set the goal for the day, THEN, I could have the option of having a reminder throughout the day on my mobile of my goal. The next day when I turn on my computer it should pop up again and ask me if I accomplished the goal I had set the day before, and prompt me to set a new one.
Also, I would love to have a running tab of all the goals that I have set and the progress that I have been making.
I like how you are integrating it with Twitter, but I am not sure if I would want everyone to know about my personal goals all the time, BUT I would like to have that option.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you need any help on the design or just another thinking mind on this project. ALSO, you should talk with my dad – he is becoming quite the social media guru. Him and I are working on some ideas together too for social media. Lets connect sometimes soon.
Wow, lots of great feedback. In a word, yes, pretty much everything you mentioned as possible features are planned for the near future. It was actually my goal over two nights last week to go from no code to a working app on the server that people could test out. Obviously, there’s a few issues with it, but I’m very happy with the response i’ve been getting.
We absolutely should collaborate on social media, as I’ve got two or three other apps that I’m planning to enter the social media scene (not least of which is OSG). Thanks again!
Thanks for the post, BJ. Enjoyed it.
Thanks Jack!
Cool BJ! I’ve registered on the website, and I’ll try it. Great idea!