Motivation with streaks- Snack Cast Episode 28

Good morning. We have an exciting topic today because it really came up organically and naturally. 

So Kevin has recently started a couple of elimination diets. Trying to cut a few things out. And the conversation led into this app that he’s using, that he’s found some benefit in. And one of them you’re actually even doing with your daughter? Yes. So let’s talk about that one first. 

She has some allergies to gluten. I think I do too, not to get into the weeds but with rashes. And it’s not a rash? No, but there are some emotional things that go on when she has gluten as well. So we’re trying to figure it out. So one of the things like you said, is to start doing the elimination. We’re on day 9, going on day 10. We started eliminating the gluten. And it’s kind of fun to go back and go, Oh, how long has it been since I started that? The name of the app that we’re using is days since. I think there are three or four others that are out there. It’s easy. There’s really nothing to the app itself. It’s like a countdown. But it’s weird motivation.  

One of the things that we want to do a better job of inside of Yes.Fit is celebrating streaks. Yeah, you worked out X number of days in a row and we’d like to celebrate that. But this is an alternate psychology of that, right? It’s if you miss a workout because you got busy or whatever the streak is over. It’s auto-implementation. What we’re thinking about doing with the app is that if you miss your streak, the streak automatically resets. There’s no punishment for it. It’s more like a food journal where if I eat it, I have to document it. And there’s a cost to that, right? You got to hit that reset and be like, Oh, the streak is over.

So the other elimination I’m doing is no alcohol. I don’t even know, you. I’m on day 22, obviously, I’m not going to keep this going forever. The really interesting aspect of this one is that I actually set a date and when I hit that date, it’s over, unlike the gluten one. Which is a unique emotional habit forming.

We know that right from the book you’ve read, powers of habit. There are little things we can do to help us stay on track. They talk about writing stuff down. So in a proud way, how many days has it been now since I’ve had a drink? That’s positive reinforcement. Even if you were outside mowing the yard and you’re like man an ice cold beer would be great right now, the idea of having to go in and basically accept failure. I’m not gonna drink by accident. I might have a little something gluten that I didn’t realize was in there. But you don’t have a drink by accident. You don’t typically break your diet by accident. So you’ve got to admit that failure you’ve got to go in there and hit reset.

So let’s talk about your daughter do you think it’s added value for her? Almost gamified it in a way? Yeah, I think so. She’s asked me how many days it’s been since I’ve stopped the gluten and you know, I think it’s it’s the same thing she is tracking her own self. No, no, we’re doing it together with her. We talk about it. We haven’t shown it to her yet. I’d be curious if you did decide at some point to let her get the app and if I don’t even know how you would gauge how old is she now. She is she’s turning 13 soon. 13, so small adult. You could maybe figure out a way to get her to tell you whether she felt that it was different or more important. 

So motivation comes from all facets. This one just kind of snuck up on us like there’s literally nothing to the app and when you guys get it and look at it, days since is the one that I’m using and we have no affiliation. We just want to share it with you guys and maybe it is a feature that we could eventually cook into Yes.Fit to have our own little day since area for people that are trying to eliminate or watch their workouts. 

Alright, so nice work CEO. Thanks for tuning in. Send us your ideas to Snackcast@yes.fit and keep moving.