CHRIS WILSON

Social Benchwarmers

I posted this tweet yesterday without even really thinking about what it means.

Basically, although there are social platforms emerging now that not only challenge the value and experience formerly delivered by only the major players, what none of them has been able to do is close the loop.

Sure, I post content to Path and EyeEm. Sure, I cross-post that content to my accounts on more prevalent platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare), because not everyone I know is an early adopter and I do want my content to be seen. But what none of these “benchwarmer” platforms can really offer is the opportunity to view and interact with major-platform content that has not been posted via their service.

Obvious observation? Probably. But until someone brilliant at a social startup comes up with a way to close the loop, the benchwarmers will always remain on the bench, waiting for the starting players to sustain career-threatening injuries.

I was so proud to find out a few days ago that one of the groups from my MASB class on Mobile App Concepting took home a Bronze MASB Top Dog award this quarter.

Congrats to the PlusPlus team!

I’ve had this iPhone app concept kicking around in my head for quite a while now. Spent a lot of time thinking about how we consume music, and what could make it a more personal experience. HitIt was the result.

Actually the concept and video were part of an application I did for Hyper Island’s Mobile Applications program. Although I decided not to join the Hyper army, I’m still stuck on making this app a reality.

First, step: keep learning JavaScript. And then it’s Titanium time, pals.

One of my newest personal challenges is to learn JavaScript. So I can learn to use Appcelerator Titanium. So I can make an attempt at coding this mobile app concept I’ve cooked up (more on that soon).

Luckily Codeacademy came around a few weeks ago to give me just the kick in the ass that I needed to get started on this — here’s my profile. The modularized, interactive teaching method is just the kind of thing my brain responds to. Hopefully another round of lessons gets posted soon, cuz I’m itching for it.

In the meantime, Eloquent JavaScript seems to be an incredibly rich free resource…

Back to Work #26: Spaghetti Guy Hits Close to Home

Merlin and Dan talk about the new realities of finding and landing a job. Although I’m not looking right now, I was blown away by the insight packed into this episode.

If you’re not already listening to the Back to Work podcast, you should be. Especially if you’re a nerd like me.

Oh, and follow Merlin on Twitter, if you know what’s good (and funny) for you.

Recently I’ve been all about trying to map out all the things I want to accomplish, and find ways to both remember to do them (this is one of the toughest parts) and stay motivated and on track. It’s been tough, as it always is with these sort of grandiose thoughts we get on particularly introspective days. But, you know, it’s supposed to be tough. And that’s why I’ve turned to a few online tools to help me get better at getting better at life.

When it comes to habits, my new obsession is Health Month.

It’s true that focusing on the small things can help lead to changes on a larger scale. Or at least it seems to be true. But there are two different kinds of habits, and both have their own challenges. Positive habits require doing something that’s not being done currently, and negative habits involve avoiding doing something that’s happening too much. My brain can really only handle a few of these imperatives at a time, and it’s usually a whole lot easier to remember to do something than to avoid something. But depending on the specifics, both categories can be equally essential.

Luckily, Health Month takes both of these kinds of habits into account. The webapp/online community uses positive psychology and gamification principles to help people identify, remember, practice and track their habits.

It’s actually pretty simple:

1. Enter the details of the habits you want to follow for the coming month. The system intuitively leads you through this process, and is pre-loaded with a ton of common habits that can be added and customized according to your needs.
2. Once the month starts, simply try to keep up on your habits! Health Month will email you every day to remind you to sign in and track your progress. There’s a really engaging points and achievements system that keeps you motivated and lets you easily understand your progress. Oh, and there’s a really supportive community to keep you going as well.
3. At the end of the month, the site leads you through a review, provides a detailed report, and helps you set your behaviour goals for the next 30 days.

Health Month is incredibly well thought-out and has a lot of features I haven’t even touched on. In order to get a good feel for the thinking behind the site, I highly recommend watching this quick talk by Buster Benson, the service’s creator (and my new hero).

As for my own progress with Health Month? I’ve become much more mindful of my habits and how they fit into my routines. I’ve had really productive days and entire weeks where my “life points” drop horrifically. And the thing is, I care about that stuff now. A lot.

More to come soon on some related topics. Goal setting, writing, self-directed learning, personal projects, and my attempts to juggle everything using impossibly nerdy tools and tactics.

I used to think I should be writing about tips and tricks that would help other people do cool things in a cooler (and faster, more efficient way). Now I’ve realized that the real story is simply my own quest to tweak my own life. Hopefully I’ll inspire a few other people as I go.

P.S. Here’s my old blog that never really got off the ground. I ain’t no Lifehacker, and that’s just fine by me.