Thread by @kermankohli

I've tried multiple apps in the past to help engineer new habits, although all of them fell short in various ways. After seeing @ali01's walrOS spreadsheet tracking, decided to start 2019 with a new approach.

Introducing <You>OS 💥

Template + insights in thread below.

1/ Habits are extremely crucial to succeed yet extremely hard to form. The hardest bit isn’t starting to form a new one, but recovering after you break a streak due to various reasons. I’ve tried multiple apps over the years but they all penalise you when you break the chain.

2/ Contrary to intuition, self-compassion not self-criticism is needed to stay on track. Rather than thinking “you messed up dude, you’re never going to make it”, you want to treat yourself like you would treat a close friend -> “it’s alright fam, look at how far you’ve come!”

3/ In “The Willpower Instinct” by Kelly McGonial, he refers to the “what the hell effect”, where basically after failing to form a new habit you binge on the old one. In my belief, avoiding this is the crucial point for forming a new habit.

4/ By using a spreadsheet that lists all your previous progress, it’s much easier to recover when you mess up because you’re encouraged by all the progress you’ve made so far. This in turn should change your inner monologue to self-compassion rather than self-criticism.

5/ <YouOS> is currently in version 1. It’s designed to be used on a per-quarter basis which is then followed by a life-review. The spreadsheet is a quantitive data for your qualitative life review.

6/ To get started, simply create a copy of the spreadsheet over at: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…

7/ Once you’ve created a copy, for every new day insert a row and enter the stats. Everything *should* update automagically. Disclaimer: there’s some technical debt in the formulas that could be cleaned up.

8/ This is the first iteration and I’m always looking for cool new ways to improve this. Drop me a DM if you manage to do so.

Happy New Years to you all!