Tag Archive
Quantified Self Talk: Beeminding Beeminder
[The Beeminder founders, Bethany Soule and Daniel Reeves, presented at the Portland Quantified Self Meetup on April 10. This is what they said.] We’re excited to be here! We used to go to Quantified Self meetups in New York and we just moved here, to pursue the Portlandian Dream of working a couple hours a week in a coffee shop and going to clown school. [They hate it when you say that.]... »
Study Wizardry
[This is a guest post by Gandalf Saxe.] Having been a university student for some years now, I've come to appreciate just how important it is to spread out your studying over the whole semester. It's the single most important aspect of good study technique. I'll even go so far as to advocate the opposite extreme of the typical student's modus operandi... »
Jamming with Jake Jenkins
[This is a guest post by Beeminder superfan — and self-quantifier — Jake Jenkins who tells us the story of how Beeminder made all his dreams come true. Well, one particular dream, which will have come true in another year or so of hard work.] When I was 9 years old I went to a beach party. As the sun set and the bonfire was lit a guy broke out his guitar and started playing familiar songs. People gathered close to the fire, but closer to him, and broke into song as the music moved them. At that moment I realized that I wanted to learn how to play guitar.... »
Dog Food Renewed
Half a year ago, with Beeminder in its infancy, we committed to averaging one User-Visible Improvement (UVI) to Beeminder every day for at least the next six months. That contract has been insanely valuable to us. “Losing momentum is the most dangerous thing that can happen to a startup.” Lately it’s been a no-brainer (though still... »
What Happens When You Don’t Report Your Weight; or, Driving Blind
Here’s a blindingly obvious insight: if you drive blind you’ll probably drive off the road. Less obvious is that that applies almost as certainly to your Beeminder yellow brick road. Michelle, who has very thick skin (figuratively speaking!) and agreed to let us feature her here, illustrates the point nicely: It’s a pattern we’ve seen... »
Case Study: Martin’s Renovating
This is an interesting case study. Martin put $5k at risk on a very conservative goal — spending at least 8 hours a week on a house renovation project for a total of 249 hours by May 5. He actually signed the contract on Oct 21, right before he started shooting up above his yellow brick road. He... »
Eating our own Dog Food
