New Habit Labs side project: gonnatry.com

I had an idea the other day and had to built it…

It’s called Gonna Try and it’s sort of a super-simple hybrid of 43 Things and Health Month. It’s freeform like 43 Things, but it’s rooted in actual attempts to make a change right now, like Health Month.

The added twist is that I ask you *how* you plan to do this thing that you want to do (apps, services, gadgets, books, motivational techniques, etc), and ask you for a date that you’re gonna try to be done by.

This lets me come back on that date and ask if you succeeded or not. Which is pretty awesome because then I’ll know something a couple things that I don’t think any of us know yet:

How often to people succeed?
What helps people succeed the most?

Anyway, that’s the idea behind it. Give it a test run and let me know what you think.

From the About text on the site:

What’s this site all about?

Gonna Try is a pseudo-scientific experiment into what you try to do, and how you succeed. Made with love by Habit Labs.

How does it work?

Simple! You tell it what you’re gonna try to do, the tools you plan to use, and a date that you’re gonna try to be done by. On that date in the future, we ask you whether or not you succeeded. So much of the hype around health, fitness, productivity and self-improvement tries to ignore the fact that, more often than not, we don’t succeed at making the changes we set out to make. Gonna Try is okay with that. We just want to know what the truth is, we want to see if there are any patterns that emerge from the small percent of people who actually *do* succeed at the things they set out to do.

How is this different from other goal-tracking sites?

It’s WAAY easier! We don’t even require you to sign up with an account.
Rather than focusing on goals, we’re focusing on attempts! They might seem similar, but how many goals and resolutions have you had that never involved a single ounce of actual trying? You can’t get away with that here.
We are okay with failure! An attempt is the reward in itself. If it doesn’t work out the first time, or the tenth time, keep trying! That’s the best we can be expected to do, right?
We will learn what works! Since we don’t have any preference about goals you work towards, or what tools and motivational techniques you employ, we can simply collect the results, and give them back to you. We’re very excited about what strange correlations we might find.

What else have you made?

Our other projects include Budge, Health Month, and How’s My Email. We are intensely focused on building tools that help you change your habits and behaviors in a positive direction. Follow us at @habitlabs, @budge, and @healthmonth.