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Show HN: Discipline.io – Make binding commitments to your better self

discipline.io

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Re: Show HN: Discipline.io – Make binding commitments to your better self

#41

Post by suketk »

kosciCZ wrote: post #34
suketk wrote: post #22

As a peer[1] in the habit-building space, there are so many things I love about this: * No self-reporting. I can attest this a huge source of friction for users. * Aligned business model. I also donate 100% of penalties to charity. It's shocking how many accountability apps are incentivized for you to fail. * External accountability. It's an underrated tool and I'm glad it's gaining more recognition. However, I think…

Hey, is there a problem with accepting new registrations (and joining the waitlist)? I get "The change you wanted was rejected." for anything I try to submit.

I don't think so, there have been registrations since your comment. If you're still having trouble, feel free to email me@suketk.com.

Re: Show HN: Discipline.io – Make binding commitments to your better self

#42

Post by taway789aaa6 »

anonyfox wrote: post #14
stri8ted wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not a fool proof solution, but the hope is, it should significantly reduce the likelihood of breaking your commitments. I was considering supporting anti-charities (e.g. NRA, DNC etc..), but I thought that was unnecessarily distracting.

well I am probably kinda the hardcore target group. I can clearly spot, articulate and act on problems (like being overweight and out of shape). I go deep into the scientific (and also pseudo for fun) discussions about anything in the process, can roughly understand it, relate that to my personal situation, and make absolutely great plans how to tackle it. iE1 (body recomp): calorie counting app, tracking everything…

You may want to look into being diagnosed with adult ADHD

Re: Show HN: Discipline.io – Make binding commitments to your better self

#43

Post by dreeves »

underyx wrote: post #7

The incumbent in this space is https://www.beeminder.com where the specific use case shown here about screen time can be configured with e.g. their RescueTime integration. Beeminder however just take your money for themselves as opposed to giving it to charity. They claim people would otherwise be more prone to giving up on their goals, thinking "oh well, the money is going to charity anyway so I'm doing a good thing…

Beeminder cofounder here! Thanks for the plug! So much to say here but maybe I'll start with a pointer to our philosophy on anti-charities: https://blog.beeminder.com/anticharity/ (short version: we hate them).

Re: Show HN: Discipline.io – Make binding commitments to your better self

#44

Post by dreeves »

Congrats on the launch! I think this is powerful and handles the use cases you've listed better than Beeminder can currently. So that's exciting for us -- we love worthy competitors!

Speaking of which, here's a list of all such competitors we know of: https://blog.beeminder.com/competitors/

(Adding Discipline.io to the list now...)

Re: Show HN: Discipline.io – Make binding commitments to your better self

#45

Post by graypegg »

candiddevmike wrote: post #18

For folks with any kind of OCD or negative self talk, this kind of app would be hell for them. The last thing they need is a real consequence for not doing something correctly. Learning to accept that using these apps will happen and understanding why you want to use these apps is may be more valuable.

I mean… the consequence is you donate to a charity you chose.

The stakes are pretty low, but just high enough to get you to think about it. I like the idea!

Re: Show HN: Discipline.io – Make binding commitments to your better self

#46

Post by mbork_pl »

stri8ted wrote: post #9
underyx wrote: post #7

The incumbent in this space is https://www.beeminder.com where the specific use case shown here about screen time can be configured with e.g. their RescueTime integration. Beeminder however just take your money for themselves as opposed to giving it to charity. They claim people would otherwise be more prone to giving up on their goals, thinking "oh well, the money is going to charity anyway so I'm doing a good thing…

I do hear that. But it seems to me, having the company take the deposit creates perverse incentives, e.g. the company is basically betting on the user breaking their commitment. A key difference also is, by requiring the deposit before resolving the commitment, it removes the escape hatch of just canceling your credit-card. It also generalizes to any app on the platform. I was considering supporting anti-charities (e…

Long-time Beeminder user here. You are theoretically right, but I don't think it works like this in practice. I've never had a problem with declaring that they should not charge me, and the charge was always canceled if that was TRT.

As for the escape hatch: true, but the counterargument by Beeminder people is that you basically cheat yourself then, so what would the point be? In fact, I have many "goals" on Beeminder where I enter data manually, so it's based on a honor system – and I don't think I'm the only one.

As for the anti-charities: this is a terrible, terrible idea from moral point of view. Much worse than just "distracting". If I agree (even conditionally) to donate money to an evil cause, I am just committing evil right now. Why would I want to do it?

Re: Show HN: Discipline.io – Make binding commitments to your better self

#47

Post by edwardipaguilar »

This seems like a great idea -- i've seen tons of these types of companies in the past, but this appears the be the first that solved the verification problem with phone APIs. Perhaps syncing up to fitbit/apple watch metrics and other health devices could introduce more functionality? Can't wait to see how it grows!

Re: Show HN: Discipline.io – Make binding commitments to your better self

#48

Post by zuiper »

sledgehammers wrote: post #10

>is a lack of self-discipline Hmm, maybe there is something to say about the addiction capitalism?? You cannot place the blame on individual here. This is a societal level problem. This is a failure of democracy to recognize and address the problem. Greed and bad incentives are the problems, again. They are causing massive destruction, again.

Agreed, it would make me so miserable to stack another failure on top of previous failures and the self-esteem loss that creates.
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