Like the concept. One small advice I learned from Duolingo (on 290 day streak) is that you have to make sure that it is non-negotiable to break the streak. If you miss it, you end your streak, you cannot reverse it, no exceptions.
This really gets the commitment going. But to make it softer, there should a way to earn points by your existing streaks and buy a weekend pass, or a 1 day streak saver pass which will help you keep your streak if you skip it on the weekend, or 1 day respectively.
You gotta purchase those with the points you earn (can be 1 point for 20 day streak or lingots, etc) so there is a limit to what you can buy and you don't want to waste it also. I also like their weekly wager in which you double the lingots if you maintain the streak for a week. It really hooks you into it. It's not uncommon for people to have a 1000+ streak just because of these things.
This was exactly one of my primary goals, no "skip a day feature". If you skip, you have to start again. There's nothing wrong with streaks being hard to go over 15. I myself have been using it for 6 months and my longest streak ever is 17. This means I did something for 3 weeks weekends included. And because the number is relatively low, it motivated me to try to overcome it (i'm on 8 now... gonna be tough :P).
I see why buying "skips" can be good too, but I think it still kills the basic idea. I kind of like to sell the idea that breaking chains is completely normal, especially depending on the kind of habits. Otherwise, people who break the chain (everyone!) feel demotivated too quickly.
In other words, I think the road to habits should look something like "3-skip-5-skip-10-skip-15-skip-15-skip-15-skip".
Just curious, for that 290 day streak (good job btw!!) how many "skips" did you use?
I never use the skips deliberately. For me it's kind of an insurance that in case i forget i have one life (1 day) protection before my streak is broken. But like insurance i have paid for it.
Sounds interesting. So the point is you can buy it any time, and it will get used when you miss it. Not just for specific day in advance?
I would love to see this feature in.
Did you try any other apps for learning languages? I am learning with Memrise at the moment but I didn't really try anything else because it seems to work.
For OP: Thanks for adding "Why isn't everydayCheck free?"
Yes, that's how it works. Saved me twice from breaking my streak and that's why I'm at it. Also as a side note you can only buy 1 streak saver at a time regardless how many lingots you have.. So if you miss it for 2 days in a row, it's gone. This too i think increases your commitment to keep at it.
Nope never tried any other app.. Only duolingo so far and I'm only 4 modules away from completing the english to French course. Unfortunately I can't say i have learned much, don't think i can even communicate 10% of what I'm writing here in French. So even though i love duolingo and practice daily it's just like a game and nothing you can take seriously imo.
I use Loop[1] for something like this. It's an Open Source Android app that looks and works pretty nicely, it doesn't have a web-view or sync capabilities though.
I've coded or read some Lisp every day for almost seven years. I started tracking it on a year-on-a-page calendar, but after a few years it was so ingrained that I stopped tracking at all. I am now keeping track of it on an index card that I fill out daily with weight, exercise, and meditation.
It's such a habit now that I can't imagine stopping it, even though it might not be as helpful for me now as it once was -- there are things I would like to do more of, but the creation process takes a similar type of effort -- comedy writing, blog post writing, cigar box guitar manufacture.
Nice work! I am a believer in the "don't break the chain" notion used to motivate continuation of habits. As an aside, I've read a few accounts of Jerry Seinfeld recommended this technique when asked about productivity tips.
For me, the idea mentioned by others of having a "skip a day" pass or something similar to the Duolingo system that allows one to "get out of jail free" is important. Since the goal of the app (I assume) is to help people form positive habits, users (especially paying customers) must be able to customize their experience.
This is cool, reminds me of Github Commits, which I've been using similarly as a "code oss daily" sort of thing. As is usually the case, I wish this was self hosted, but cool nonetheless!
This really gets the commitment going. But to make it softer, there should a way to earn points by your existing streaks and buy a weekend pass, or a 1 day streak saver pass which will help you keep your streak if you skip it on the weekend, or 1 day respectively.
You gotta purchase those with the points you earn (can be 1 point for 20 day streak or lingots, etc) so there is a limit to what you can buy and you don't want to waste it also. I also like their weekly wager in which you double the lingots if you maintain the streak for a week. It really hooks you into it. It's not uncommon for people to have a 1000+ streak just because of these things.