Show HN: Stressed and burned out, so I created my first app – Remember Win | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Stressed and burned out, so I created my first app – Remember Win

rememberwinapp.com

455 pointsentangld97 comments

I love the concept. +1 for an android version.

One feature to add might be a view for one year ago today. There are journals that have 365 pages and you write a line for each year of the highlights of the day. As you write the new year's line you end up reviewing what you were doing in previous years. It seems like you have most of the pieces to do this.

I use Oh Life for daily email journaling. One feature I really like is the "Oh snap, remember this? X days ago you wrote..." prompt, where X doesn't always equal 365. The random retrospective glances are great. For example, when it's Christmas, I don't necessarily want to be prompted to compare it to the last one...

Didn't know about that one! What an absolutely great thing. I keep a log over the work I do and being able to look back at the work I have done and examine the thoughts I had say a year ago is incredibly valuable. I wouldn't be surprised if you can get the same benefits from this.

Thanks for sharing!

I'm also in for an Android version.

It would be great too if in the settings, you could set a notification time for each day. For example, I could set it to ping me at 7:30pm with a notification reminding me to do an entry for the day. When I clicked on it, it would auto-load to entering the log for the day.

You can do that. It is in the settings.

It doesn't quite auto-load though.

120 points in 1 hour is a nice start. I think you can add a self-referencing entry to your achievement list: "Launched Remember Win App"

!!!

I love the sentiment and inspiration. I think this is great for fighting burnout and getting back in the game. The design of the app is really clean and it looks great.

That being said, I feel like the replies here are a bit of a hugbox. As far as the app's value itself goes, I don't see any benefit of this compared to an accomplished.txt file. In fact, a txt file is better because it covers more use cases and has a simpler interface(just start typing).

Why should I use this rather than a notepad? Look for features you can add that would be useful for manipulating data about accomplishments. Find ways to set the app apart.

Accomplishment ranking could be one useful feature. Then you could list even the tiny accomplishments, but if you want to just look at the big accomplishments you can always sort based on ranking to clear out the noise.

I don't know, keeping track of accomplishments in retrospect seems to be rather an additional burden. I'd rather change the app so it helps you to pursue current goals (todos for a goal, notes etc.) and reminds you of goals you have accomplished.

I'm working on a platform which does just that. Don't really want to detract from the thread (as I appreciate the simplicity of this app in just focusing on one aspect), but the link is in my profile if you're interested.

this is an excellent point. goal-setting and achievement gives tremendous hope so that would be a most excellent feature.

All very good points.

It's better than a notepad in that it will send you reminder notifications of accomplishments. A notepad requires you to look at it again.

There are also counters on each category so you begin to notice and feel confident about how accomplished you are on certain areas of your life.

There is also a strengths/skills page which collects notes you've made on each accomplishment. It needs to be improved but eventually you will see patterns in the skills you use to accomplish things.

I hope that helps. I probably should have written that on the website.

An android version would be great. This direction has great potential.

An app is way better than a notepad. Reminders, categorization, tagging with skills, extracting patterns, these are very useful things.

Entangld, this is a great app. I hope you will find some time for healing.

Stress burns the mind in the same way as physical activity burns the muscle. At some point you need to give your mind a rest. I suggest this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Full-Catastrophe-Living-Wisdom-Illness...

or this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Wherever-You-Go-There-Are/dp/140130778...

This should help you keep your strengths intact regardless of your current situations ... who is to say that next endeavor will be better than the previous one.

Looks neat... do you plan to make an Android version?

Is the information stored on the device or on your servers somewhere? I like the idea but I'd also like to keep this data for longer than a company may be around for.

Thank you for the feedback! I was nervous about posting to HN.

Info is saved on the device.

Haven't had the chance to use the app yet, but does this mean that it's locally stored/backed up on iCloud?

Not backed up on iCloud yet. It's a very simple app right now.

+Android and keeping this as device-only-data (aka, no upload/sync) would fetch several $ from me. If I want to be honest on the app and ensure I'm having a meaningful dialogue with past/future me, I do not want 3rd parties to have any means to see that (aka, chilling effect).

I wouldn't mind having them uploaded via Google's backup API. It basically makes syncing settings and what not between devices painless, so if I have to move phones, or I lose mine, I'm not worrying about losing my journal and having to start over. That or a sync to dropbox or some service I can opt into would be great.

Great job! I started writing down my daily "wins" after reading about Marc Andreeessen and his anti-todo list. http://blog.idonethis.com/marc-andreessen-productivity-trick...

This is super rad! +1 for android as well. No pressure though. If anything I might just create a personal clone for myself.

If you do create and android version let us know. I would be interested in using this on android.

I like the concept, good job on getting it out there! However the choice of font (Lobster) pains me, there was a period where it was so overused that it's almost on the level of Comic Sans at this point. #sadface

Came here to say this. I see it everywhere, it's just overused at this point.

I don't know why you are in gray. Lobster is overused for "startup" logotypes to the point of being a cliche choice.

I just wanted something with a script feel, for nostalgia.

My bad. I'm not a fan of cliches either, even visual ones.

This concept is powerful, wrote about it recently :)

https://medium.com/@jasdev/small-moments-159df5db89a5

This looks awesome, another +1 for Android. Definitely an app to be proud of, and a really cool idea.

Thanks for this. I do need to remind myself about victories, even small ones. Especially when it comes time for annual performance reviews. :D

What went well today? got #1 on HN.

I clicked through expecting an app that offered a nostalgic walk down memory lane with screenshots and features of the Windows operating system. I'm not sure why that is the first thing that came to mind, but it did.

While that would have been moderately amusing, the actual application is a much more useful and helpful concept.

Great job on launching something!

Great concept and great name, good luck with it.

How about a Windows Phone version (Hey stop laughing! I am too being serious)

I'd love to see a Windows Phone version too! Definitely needed to see this link today. Thanks.

It's a great idea and I can see a lot of people using such an app. But I don't feel like it's really productive, or even healthy to look too much at the past. Reminds me a quote "if you spend your day thinking about yesterday, what will you do tomorrow?"

Good point. Just another way of looking at it though. Looking back in life from a perspective of 'hey things are actually pretty great in my life' is good for the mind. It actually gives you reason to look forward to the moment. There is of course the possibility one might look back and say I wish my life was more awesome like back then. But given that the wins would be like something from yesterday or the past week, I think the odds of the brain thinking that way might be microscopic.

Agred,but isn't this app about feeling better about yourself?

Just downloaded it, great app.

I find critique useful, I hope you do too. I do not like the notifications, how you set them. I would prefer to wake up to my morning alarm and see a random awesome thing I did the day or week before, along with a motivational 1-a-day quote.

No offense taken whatsoever when it comes to criticism! My inner-perfectionist thrives on making things better.

Great idea on the alarm. I collect great quotes and I want to use them. I just thought I couldn't serve them well in this version of a small local app.

I'm hoping to eventually use the app to sprinkle a person's day with things more positive and substantial than a compliment or two. It might also make sense to have different features trigger after 25 or so entries.

Wonderful... another +1 for Android please.

I have been thinking of making an app to help me do regular journaling. The idea is that it iss quick and easy enough to do in one minute per day and that it would help me remember notable events in my life. This fills that niche really well!

One thing I wanted in my app was a timeline view so that I could see an overview of the most notable events in my life, and drill into certain periods for more detail. I think you could do that with this app.

Lastly, provide a way to export data. I want to remember these things forever, even if you decide not to continue supporting the app.

Neat concept. In my experience its helpful to reset the clock and remember the mindset you were in when you were happiest to help guide you towards where you should go next.

The data here would be very useful for performance reviews for employees. For HR, it would also be helpful for looking at morale at a high level.

Self evaluation which is then evaluated by others is difficult to get right.

This is because everyone's internal lens is different, so comparing "results" is compounded even more than usual.

Nice idea. I'm going to try it out over the next few days. One critique: you've used some non-retina graphics for bar button items.

Great idea. It seems like something that would be incorporated in Facebook given it's ostensible goal of documenting your life. Perhaps they'll even hear about your idea and release a "new Achievements" feature in the coming months. Have you considered building your own on top of their api/platform to increase the "virality" of remember win?

Not being integrated with Facebook is a good thing too. :)

That sounds like an awesome idea. I would be interested, but I might need an example to figure out how to start.

Great concept. I'm sat here, having been instructed by our investors to write up our achievements in the last two years, drawing a total blank. I know we've achieved lots of stuff, but I can't view anything as an achievement, so so far, I've managed "not totally failing" - which I don't think is quite what they're after.

Ho hum.

I like this. Last year I started writing down "one cool thing I've done" every day and it definitely helps me appreciate my life more. Recently I had a couple of days where I couldn't come up with anything to note, which reminded me to check if I'm still doing what I love and not spending too many days with only tedious work.

Reminds me of a gift my father gave my daughter when she recently had her first child "The Happiness Project One-Sentence Journal for Mothers" [1]

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Project-One-Sentence-Journal...

I created a notepad document two weeks ago to track a.) each day that I do not move my car (bike everywhere instead) and b.) each meal that I prepare myself and eat in. I have ambitions to start tracking some more day-to-day goals like these.

I'm giving this app a shot to see if it has benefits over the .txt file. Thanks!

Had a similar idea. But where others give you badges because it means a little bit more if others give you someting.

Great start.

Great idea. I've had something like this on the backburner as well. Congrats on making it a reality!

Looks nice too :)

Nice app - I just downloaded it and added a few wins this year. Looking forward to using it.

A Jobs quote, hmm... A Dostoevsky quote... That's impressive... Nice idea, be strong!

very nice! I have a few ideas but have never done mobile development and frankly it seems a bit overwhelming for the 2-5 spare hours in a week. Is the best way to get started to create a reactive site and port it into an app?

if you can build a mobile-first website (eg w bootstrap or zurb foundation to do the css heavy lifting), then you can use trigger.io (or phonegap) to generate ios and android apps that wrap it...

I run an online game, and I think I'm going to try this as a notice for players of positive achievements in the past. Perhaps it makes them all feel like they are doing better than they feel they are.

Great concept.

I think that's a great idea. Team Fortress 2 does things like this after a death (ex: That was the longest you've stayed alive as the Engineer, That was the most points you've ever captured with the Scout) and I find that they do motivate you to keep going even if you're being decimated, because hey at least you did _something_ better than before.

I'd love to hear more about your actual story, how you came to realize you were burning out and what kind of changes you made in your life to fight it. Did you leave your job to develop this app?

I didn't leave my job, but I just worked on the design on th train ride to work.

Building something you think might help other people is good for your sanity.

Just downloaded and loved it. Great app. Is there a way to include quotes?

That's a great idea and good looking app. I had kind of a similar idea: an app that would preserve nice things said about you by others to counteract all the negativity.

I'm really impressed by all these polished launch pages that Show HN folks design. Lack of such is an admittedly lame reason why I refrain from posting projects on HN.

Start with this: http://learnlayout.com/toc.html.

hey! good point - I felt the same so amy trying to create a template website that would make polished app pages easy for mobile developers! hope to share the beta with you soon!

Sweet though I'm not a mobile dev.

Serious question: Knowing what it's like to feel burned out,I don't understand how you found the energy to create the app. Did you create it after recovering ?

Was this influenced by Reddit's "Daily 3?[1]"

[1] http://www.reddit.com/r/Mydaily3/

Influenced by book Flourish by Martin Seligman

Can you tell us something about technologies used for the app?

The quotes really humanize your app. Kudos and Godspeed.

This is so great. I have a text file named "1000 Things" that I update weekly. The file has headings "I am an aspiring ____", and I list the things I did that week to move closer to that goal, counting down from 1000.

So my questions...Is it possible to load up a bunch of existing data in to the app? And would there be a way to implement a count of the achievements for each category?

This app is great. I really need this.

I'm a recent graduate, in the weird transition of student life and real life.

First I saw the domain and I thought someone was trying to bring back winamp... Nice job on the app!

This is a great idea! Thank you for creating this. Looking forward to tracking my daily wins too!

+1 for Android. Happy to part with $5 for such an application

Really nice concept, trying it out right now.

Excelent app +1 for one android version.

damn. saw the url and for a second thought it was to celebrate and remember winamp =(

except he used an iPhone4 for all the images on the home page.

don't use this quote on your app

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10328969/stayhungrystayf...

Is there a specific reason why the author shouldn't? Like a trademark/copyright issue because of the speech or just because it annoys you?

Not speaking for AwesomeTogether, but it's the title of a book:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stay_Hungry_Stay_Foolish

edit: And just to be clear, I don't see where it would be an issue using it in the app, as the title of that book was supposedly inspired by Jobs saying the phrase, who in turn got it from yet another book. Just wondering if the fact that it's a book title is what the issue is.

I'll remove it as soon as I can.

Aren't you curious as to why?

I immediately thought it was something to do with Apple infringement or something, but then I realized I have a Steve Jobs quote on the site already.

I am curious now.

I agree with OP, actually.

There's nothing inherently wrong with it, but my inner writer cringes, since it's a random throwback to Jobs' commencement speech, and it seems a bit out of place (especially in contrast to the previous 3 headings). I tried to come up with something short/powerful/meaningful, but in the couple minutes I've spared I've come up empty handed.

I would recommend finding a different background image for your header, as I think you could find something a bit less noisey. I like back5 with an y-offset of 540, but another stars/galaxy image would be great if you can find one available for free!

BUT. It looks great! I really wish it was available for android. Keep it up, this is a win for you to remember :)

seems trendy, hn will love it for a day or two

+1 for android

Like it!!

Please an API please.

there is no blog link on the about page.

Will check it out more, have had a similar idea on my back burner for a while too.

Comment was simply meant as idea validation.

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