I hope to return, bigger and better!

Also, I wanted to thank all the users who’ve provided feedback, both online and with in-person tests.
Keep it coming!

-Adriano

I am once again a vegetarian. I won’t go into the details as to why, but I sincerely doubt I’ll be eating meat for a long, long time.

So it’s only been since yesterday, after a 13 year meaty break since my last bout of vegetarianism (that lasted about 6 years), and already I am having failure anxiety. I am thinking about future dinner parties, and whether or not I will still serve some large portion of flesh as the main course (gee, I already sound like a veggie!) and if lentils are really a good idea for daily consumption. I worry that I will be seen as a picky eater, hard to please, whereas for the past 13 years I’ve been adventurous enough to try any tentacled, left-ventricled or other iron-rich clot presented to me. I already heard myself asking the bf yesterday “was that a cow or a pig?” while eyeing his massive Montreal Smoked Meat sandwich. It may have sounded like it came from a place of disgust, but my mouth was watering. I worry that I will be one of those annoying, preachy vegetarians that I have ridiculed for the past decade, and yet secretly envied. I’m not sure if I can refuse that greasy, peppery temptress known as salami. I’m worried that I will feel deprived.

What if I fail, and go on a bacon binge? Conversely, what if I succeed and never taste sirloin again?

I think fear has held me back from several habits over the course of my life, and I think this is most likely true for many people. I think many of us look at the big picture and feel intimidated. The strange part is that it’s not just the fear of failing, but the fear of succeeding. Success means change, and as much as I love it, there’s something frightening about it as well. Unchartered waters, and all that.

Although my new habit can’t really be slapped on a helpful graph, a la HabitShaper, as I have decided to quit cold Tofurkey, I am reminding myself to think small, get used to the idea of my new diet. It’s not like I eat meat all that often, anyhow, so why get all worked up? Today I will deal with what I need to eat. I will go grocery shopping and buy what I need. This is a small but important step.

Tomorrow is another day, and I’ll deal with challenges as they arise, one meatless day at a time.

So, in celebration of my brand new work station, I give to you, dear habit maker, my HabitShaper blog numero uno! (If you’re interested, our office is starting to look like a proper work space, and we no longer share a desk! Yay us, all coming up in the world and stuff.)

But really, I just couldn’t think of a single new excuse not to post a blog.

As I was fiddling with the current goal I am working on in HabitShaper (push ups….which seems to be the our go-to habit), it occurred to me that some goal makers out there might not completely understand why the goals are so stinking easy in the beginning. I mean, really…2 push ups? Yeah, even I can handle that. (I laughed out loud once, when we were testing the goals, and my goal was to “Breathe 100 breaths” daily –clearly I was just goofing around, I’m already a professional breather- and I was asked to breathe twice daily.)

But I digress. The reason for the uber-easy target for the first several days is meant to get you in the swing of things. Yes, you can do more than 2 pushups, we’re not saying you’re incapable of it. The challenge is not in the 2 pushups themselves, the challenge is in the doing. Daily. This so-called “Daily Doing”, (yes, a habit) is the tricky bit… we begin good habits with the best of intentions, going at those pushups like there’s no tomorrow, pushing-up our little hearts out. Then the next day, when your arms are sore and you feel it’s better not to overdo it so you skip that day, then the next day you “just don’t feel like it”, and the day after that you “just didn’t have the time”, and then it’s the weekend and you’ve decided you deserve a break anyhow, then Monday rolls around and you’re too busy, then…well, you get the point. Habit fail.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what we’re avoiding by starting small. Get used to the “doing” idea, and the rest will follow.

Start small. Stupidly small. Insignificantly small. Ridiculously small. But do it. And tomorrow, do it again.

There is a great amount of work to be done, but we decided not to wait until it’s “finished” to release. The folk wisdom regarding software maturity is that “If you’re not embarrassed of your initial release, then you didn’t release early enough.”

Well, the main functionality is there, so we are not too embarrassed. You are able to create goals (integers only), and have your daily targets sent to you by email (and soon, by SMS!). You are able to view your targets in the long term, with both a calendar and a graph. And you can keep general notes about your goals.

We feel that this covers enough of the basics to be labelled “HabitShaper v1.0″.

But we see so much more on the horizon that to our eyes, the current release is only a seed.

One specific improvements coming soon: we seriously need to rewrite the “New Goal” form, since is  our stats tell us that very few of the people who sign up actually end up creating a goal. This is probably due to a confusing form, and to the app’s current lack of personality/character/humanity.

Please give us feedback.

All feedback, especially negative feedback, helps us in moving forward!

Initially this was to address the many requests I get for Mac, iPhone versions.
By going web-based, I can provide HS for users anywhere/anytime, and add many other useful features.

I will announce a “Join the Beta” program when there’s something for you to try.

Note: I will continue to support the software version, and any purchases will go towards the new web-based version when it’s available.

Update to version 2.0.2.2, and everything should be fine.
(from within the program go to Help > Check For Updates)

Well, it’s ready for you!
Just update from within the software, or download and install from the “Download Free Trial” buttons scattered across the site.

If you haven’t already, check out his blog and subscribe to his feeds. He has interesting takes on habit change, and plenty of working experience to back up his claims.

You can also see a guest post I wrote, excerpted below:

Starting habits isn’t very hard. We all have habits that we started with ease, and keep up with religiously. Of course, I am talking about habits like hitting the snooze button and ducking under the pillow every morning.
However, waking up before dawn when you’re used to 10am or noon, now that takes a lot of willpower.

“Just do it!” you’d have to tell yourself.

That’s what it’s all about, right? Willpower?

I had thought so too…

Read the rest at the bad habits blog.

I hope this bug wasn’t causing headaches!

À la prochaine!
Adriano