The Use Case For The Resolute App

This isn’t a blog post about how wonderful I am, and everything I know.

This, instead is a confession and acknowledgement that I struggle to make things stick.

I’ve set ambitious goals for myself – professional, athletic, personal – but I often run into the same problem: I start strong, then my consistency fades and the goal is ditched for a new shiny one. Some days I am nailing it, well aligned and driven, then other days I lose track of the fact I was even trying to achieve anything, let alone having any hope of moving in the right direction.

What I’m realising is that I need to change the way I need to change. I need to reduce the randomness and just hoping that the goals will be accomplished, and instead look at what works. So how would this work? Like most things for me, looking at the science – about how we set goals, form habits, stay focused and bounce back from setbacks. I want to research deeply, not just read a single book, but to look at what the current research actually says about behaviour change, and how to apply it – not just read it and forget about it.

As part of my MBA, I’m working on a creative challenge, where I’m trying to find something that I am interested in, could have a significant impact, and stretches my own capability. The result is a hypothesis: That within 12 weeks I can pull together current research and insights to create an application which helps individuals (me, I’m the target audience) take control of their habits and behaviours instead of letting our environment set them for us. The result of this will be an app, I’m calling Resolute, that I hope eventually will help people (once again me, I’m the person) use the best tactics for personal change.

To be clear: I’m not building the app because I’ve solved the problem. Instead, I’m building it to explore the problem and share what I learn along the way.

Resolute is a way for me to:

• Stay focused on learning what actually works in the science of change
• Experiment with ideas in real time, not just in theory
• Build a tool that reflects the complexity and messiness of both behaviour change and humans – not just a single “best practice” which is in a lot of the books and other apps

Right now, we are near the beginning of this challenge. I’m reading heaps and trying to stay broad across all fields which might provide insight such as psychology, behavioural economics, biochemistry and public health policy. I will be sharing my insights right here, in this blog, so if this interests you, please follow along. As the insights clarify, I will begin prototyping and build out my vision. A vision of a tool where people can do things along the lines of:

Because I don’t want to rely on willpower anymore – it isn’t working for me

Because I don’t want to let another year go by with good intentions but limited delivery

Because I believe that I am not the only person who isn’t achieving all my goals – and if I can design something that helps me with achieving the changes and growth I am seeking, it could help others.

I’m not sure where this challenge will go yet, that’s kind of the point. But if nothing else, I know that going through this process, sharing my insight and building the Resolute app, will push me to explore how I can achieve more. This feels like a great place to start.

If you’re also someone who’s trying to figure out how to be a bit more successful in achieving your goals, I’d love to have you join in the journey.

Follow along with the blog and if you have some great ideas about what I should investigate to include, please put your ideas in the form.

Share your ideas directly with me