Thoughts on goals, self-improvement, and building a quieter kind of productivity app.
Not all habit apps are the same. From full gamification to quiet journaling, here's an honest look at the different approaches to goal tracking — and how to find the one that actually fits your real life.
Read more →What actually happens when you strip away the streaks, scores, and daily targets from a goal app? Here's what The Traces looks like — and why every design decision starts with a different assumption about people.
Read more →Guilt is a design choice. Most habit apps are built on loss aversion and shame — and research shows it's exactly what makes you quit. Here's what the psychology actually says, and what a kinder approach looks like.
Read more →The small, unglamorous days where you barely do anything? Those are the ones that keep your goals alive. Here's why showing up — however that looks — is the only consistency that actually matters.
Read more →You're not lazy. You're not undisciplined. The real reason you keep quitting your goals has everything to do with how motivation works — and how most goal-tracking tools are designed to fail you.
Read more →Most habit apps are built on dopamine and guilt. Here's what the psychology research actually says — and why streak-based design is making your goals harder to reach.
Read more →Most habit apps punish you for missing a day. I wanted something different. Here's why I built The Traces — a goal app with no streaks, no scores, and no guilt.
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