Path App
Path is a goal tracker and daily planner. Users can receive insights on the progress and focus in their Career, Interpersonal, Financial, Growth, and Wellness categories.
The Shift
Working on the app ever since the summer put a lot of things in perspective. During quarantine and lockdown, I think we all at some point just spent so much time in our heads going in circles waiting for things to change and trying to go with the flow. But then we all got to that point where we started to think about what we could do.
In the book “The One Thing” there is an important section about how willpower is not on will call. No matter what you want to do, overworking and over-stressing is not efficient. I have had an easier time focusing and maximizing my time by sticking to periods of deep work (The Mastery Journal is very good) is very and actually enjoying the rest of my day. Ignore Productivity Twitter and LLC Twitter. It’s actually really dumb the more I think about it, we’ve all had eureka moments when we step away from something.
Being Intentional
In “Resonate” by Alex Wolf (highly recommend the book) she talks about how what you work on should be done because it makes you happy first, doesn’t need some “I saw this problem and thought I have the answer”. At its core, the original reason should be, “I did this because it made me happy doing it”. Attempting something positive and failing is a much better alternative to the never-ending frustration of a “what-if”. At least the attempt brings peace of mind with the answer.
Ethos
In my sophomore year of college, one of my professors gave me the book “The Carpenter” and five years later I still keep that copy. In the book one of the main themes is approaching your work as a craftsman, meaning that instead of just caring about getting it done you care about who you’re becoming along the way. When you focus on the craftsman approach instead of the “Just get it done” approach you enjoy what you’re doing, you work on yourself as you work on what you care about. And you care less about being perfect and more about simply getting better. In the book “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” the craftsman approach is also brought up, you simply decide what you want to become better at, being the best is irrelevant (granted we all want to win of course).
App Preview
In our app the core functions reflect what we learned:
The Goals are your guide. They can be either an immediate goal (Learn how to play a song) or a continuous process goal (Become a better developer) either way the goal serves as a kind of North Star for you (I got that from the 100-Day Goal Journal).
Path Focus
- An Interpersonal focus is important because I think that in the last year everyone has learned to not take any relationship for granted. We should appreciate the little moments and make that the foundation by which we succeed in every other aspect of life.
- A Wellness focus is key because it is important to prioritize health and fitness. Everyone loves that accomplished feeling of going through a good workout. Your physical and mental health should always be a priority. Feel good, make good discussions. Or as people say: good stress from a good workout leads to good sleep.
- A Financial focus is important because financial security only becomes more important as we grow older, learning good practices now is key. A great foundation by which we can focus on the other aspects.
- A Career focus is great because when we approach our careers the right way and approach what we do as a craft to improve at, we begin to own our professional lives. The increase in skill and rising confidence in your craft will empower you and see the other aspects of your life more clearly and allow you to focus on them more.
- And a Growth focus is great because sometimes we feel stuck, or that we need to make a change, it is the intentional focus on making a change. Maybe it is the side project you have always thought about pursuing and is always on your mind. Maybe it is getting better at the sport you play, maybe it’s simply a broad personal change you want to make like becoming more confident. Either way a focus on this means that by doing this, everything else you do becomes easier.
