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Show HN: "Why Am I Doing It?", (sort of) OhLife for developers

20 points by iaskwhy ↗ HN
Hello everyone! We just launched our project for the 48H non-stop Codebits Programming Contest which took place this last days in Lisbon, Portugal.

When a new project starts, you get all motivated to get it done. Weeks pass and now you are all confused and wondering why the hell you are doing what you are doing. We hope to help you get those thoughts out of your mind and focus on what's important: getting it done.

http://www.whyamidoingit.com

"Why Am I Doing It?" (WAIDI) is a personal reminder of why you are doing whatever you are doing disguised as a web app. WAIDI will help people like us avoid that feeling that gets into our mind when we are only 5% close to finish some project and for some reason it just never gets done. It will clear your mind and will make you stay focused on what really matters.

So how does it work? It couldn't be easier to start: just go to WAIDI's homepage and fill in the form. A few days later you will receive an email reminding you why you are working on your project, making it hard for you to forget those first words that defined it and got you all motivated in the beginning.

Questions & feedback are welcome!

12 comments

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PsyVisions
WOW this must be the most useless app i've ever seen.

Please don't take me wrong but i really LOL'ed reading your post...

Realmente inútil...

iaskwhy
I obviously don't agree with you but I do respect your opinion. OhLife follows this approach (reminding you you have to act) and works wonders for me so I thought this concept could be really interesting (although very minimalist and simple) applied to the emotional and motivational side of building a project from the ground up.

I'm sorry you got disappointed but it would be awesome to understand why you think this is useless for you. Or maybe you just don't need something like this, if that's the case I guess you are a lucky person and I wish you the best!

Hates_
Useless to you perhaps. If you're going to criticise, then be constructive. Comments like this help no one.
amitvjtimub
I found this useful. At least, I can give it a try for some time.
rokhayakebe
Reminding date should be random. Also after a few reminders, a user may not be likely to open the email again, so you need something more than this.
asknemo
Agreed. Plus a customizable reminder interval please? I personally won't forget about the reason I am doing something in one week's time. In fact few do, considering a week is such a short time-frame.
iaskwhy
Yap, the date is random but it will happen once a week (or at least it sounded like a good idea to do it weekly). We believe the app will work in a very engaging way, the reminders will try to surprise you but unfortunately you'll have to wait some more days to see it for yourself...
rick_2047
You actually need to send if with different emails to make me open it every time otherwise I will not open it even the second time. Or perhaps hide a goodie in there like a funny video or something.
[dead] haydenchambers
I'd like to receive the messages via twitter with a link back to my reason
dheerosaur
I can't think of one, but is there a way to make the textboxes more call-to-action?
iaskwhy
I believe I understand what you are trying to say but just to be sure, you didn't realize those were text boxes at first, is that it? If so, yes, that's a problem with this approach, we tried to make something somewhat unique by making the homepage show what the app is about by using the app itself. Another curious thing is that that's the signup page too, you just don't think much about it (or not as much as you probably would on a normal signup page).

It obviously has its problems but we really wanted to make it as easy as possible! We are very curious about how it turns out!