iDoneThis blog

Meet Ernesto Ramirez, Ph.D student in public health, Quantified Self organizer, and disliker of to-do lists.  Ernesto uses iDoneThis to feel great about what he gets done every day, to motivate himself to do more, and to create a record of his life.  He made the following word cloud to show his last 62 days on iDoneThis.  Ernesto’s an inspiration to us at iDoneThis, too — we’re working on giving everyone on iDoneThis his or her own individual word cloud.  (Look out for it soon!)

BIO

Ernesto Ramirez is a doctoral student studying Public Health at San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego. He is interested in using technology to help people live a life of wellness. He’s getting married next year and is really excited about that too. 

Age: 30

Location: Sunny San Diego, CA

Contact: ErnestoRamirez.org, Wellovations, @e_ramirez, LinkedIn.

How do you use iDoneThis?

I use iDoneThis to help me realize that I’ve been productive during the day and to reflect on what I’ve done. Sometimes this means a lot of work and school related tasks, but other times it is very social as you can see by how big “dinner” is in the above picture. I’ve never been good at handling “To Do” lists because of the nature of my work and personality.

As a grad student I am constantly being asked to take on additional tasks and duties. I’m also a social person who thrives in collaborative environments so I am constantly seeking conversations and collaborations. These behaviors never fit into a structured model of task completion so “To Do” lists always had an inherent failure trap built in. By using iDoneThis I’ve been able to reverse that failure model with a very positive accomplishment model. The positive feelings I get when type those emails at the end of the day are probably the number one reason I use iDoneThis. It doesn’t matter if I didn’t check off everything on today’s “To Do” list because look at all those amazing things that I did during the day!

I also use it as motivator of sorts. As someone who studies behavioral science I am deeply aware of the power of momentum. Seeing the streak number go up every day is a pretty powerful motivator. Plus, having a vague idea of the number of things that I’ve done over the past few days from when I periodically look at the website helps me to try and input all the things that I think are important for future reflection.

Lastly, sometimes I’m not sure why I use it. I’m one of those weird people that tries new things without an inherent purpose. I find value in exploration and knowledge creation. I imagine one day once’ I’ve built up enough things that I’ve done that I’ll through it into a contextual language processor and see what comes out. 

You were an organizer of the Quantified Self Conference 2011.  What did you learn?

I actually wrote a blog post the detailed my take-aways from the Quantified Self Conference here.

Briefly here are the big things I took away. 

1) Building a environment that supports and encourages positivity is essential for succes. Never have I been to a conference, and I’ve been to a lot, where so many people were so positive. It made the entire event enjoyable and I believe that positivity helped to foster the intellectual sharing that is crucial for growing the Quantified Self movement. 

2) Helping people should be the number one priority. Sure, doing cool research is fun, but Users want systems that let them use them as they want so that they can make decisions and changes as they see it. It is about building a user experience on top of a device platform that empowers users - that helps them take control of their lives and make real change.

How did you build your treadmill desk?

The ActiveDesk was built over many years and gallons of blood, sweat and tears. Well, not really. It was actually pretty easy.

I found a used treadmill on craigslist for $100 and bought a height adjustable desk from IKEA.  From there it was just some simple work to disassemble the control panel, hacksaw the support posts, roll the treadmill under the desk and reattach the control panel to the desk. I’ll be the first to admit that this is only one way to hack together your own treadmill desk, but it’s worked for me for 2.5 years, 600+ miles, and over 62,000 calories burned while working.

Meet Brianna Roux, young scientist, college student, and amateur knitter.  Brianna uses iDoneThis to track school projects, check-in on her knitting progress, and advance medical science.

BIO

I am currently a senior Biomedical Engineering major at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, with a minor in biochemistry/molecular biology. After I graduate, I plan to continue my education and get a Ph.D in Biomedical Engineering. I also work at Rose-Hulman’s Homework Hotline, which is a free service for students in grades 6-12 to call in and get math and science homework help. In my free time, I enjoy knitting and woodturning.

Age: 21

Location: Collinsville, IL

Contact: LinkedIn

How do you use iDoneThis?

I use iDoneThis to track my progress on my school projects, homework assignments, and school-related activities. I also use it to track progress on my knitting projects and what I’ve made on the lathe, and pretty much anything else. It’s a really great way to take a couple of minutes to reflect on what I’ve accomplished today, both small and large, and think about what I have left to do in the days ahead. The email format is quick and easy to use, which is especially important while I’m busy at school - I don’t have to remember to go to a website.

You have an awesome 100-day long streak (and running) on iDoneThis.  What stuff have you gotten done during your streak?

The last ten weeks of school, I was working on my Junior Design project with a classmate. We designed a device to allow our client (a paraplegic woman) to be able to play the pedals of a piano again without interrupting her normal piano playing. There was no building involved, but there were several large milestones (including a 58-page Preliminary Design Document), and it felt great to be able to type in that I completed it in iDoneThis. I’ve also done several other school and knitting projects, and I’m currently finding it useful to list the progress I’ve made in my summer research to glance at before my weekly meetings. 

You’re doing a research program for college undergraduates this summer.  Tell us about your research and areas of interest.

This summer I am working at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the Biomedical Engineering Summer Research Program. My research is focused on testing artificial heart valves (particularly those designed for children) in a left heart simulator and analyzing their fatigue profile. I’m interested in several areas of biomedical engineering research, especially the improvement of artificial heart valves, but also tissue engineering and orthopedic implants. I’m hoping to do a tissue engineering based research project in graduate school, but my interests seem to widen after every elective class I take.  

Meet Cheryl Yeoh, first-time entrepreneur, co-founder of CityPockets and recently named one of 25 women driving NY’s tech scene.  Using iDoneThis every day, Cheryl traces the footsteps of her rising startup and already has a couple of major milestones logged into the calendar. 

BIO

I co-founded CityPockets, a daily deal digital wallet with a secondary deals marketplace that’s based in NYC. I was born and bred in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and braved the American soil in 2002 on a full scholarship to study engineering at Cornell University. Since then, I’ve educated people about labyrinths, founded a Toastmasters Club at my first job, and worked as a management consultant before ditching Michelin starred restaurants for quinoa and kale to start CityPockets. The journey of my startup has been an incredibly winding road so far, but ultimately rewarding. 

Age: 28

Location: New York, NY (Chelsea)

Contact: cherylyeoh.com, @cherylyeoh, LinkedIn

How do you use iDoneThis?

I was initially using iDoneThis to log what I’ve personally accomplished in a day to keep track of my daily productivity. It’s amazing how much more aware I’ve become of how efficiently (or not) I’m working, so I’ve been a huge fan of this product. I’ve been giving a lot of good feedback to the iDoneThis team to create a team productivity tracker so that my team at CityPockets can log what they’ve accomplished at the end of the day so far, and we’d see a dashboard of that during our daily stand up meetings the next day. Hope to see this out soon!

You have pluck and drive in spades.  Where does your drive come from?

I’ve always had a lot of drive, even as a little kid because I was encouraged by my parents to challenge the status quo. I always think that everything can be done better, faster, simpler, cheaper or more efficiently. There’s usually a way around something seemingly tough. I also have this habit of wanting to prove people wrong; I’m the kinda gal who’d root for the underdogs. I get frustrated at people who are overly critical or who underestimate others. At the end of the day passion and persistence wins out. Most startups fail not because the product isn’t good enough or the market timing isn’t right, but because they give up too soon. Starting a company is one of the toughest thing to do in the world because you face a lot of harsh rejections, so you need to brush it off and keep going until you “get lucky.” In any case, I trust the journey because I know that everything happens for a good reason. I’ve always learned something from even the worse of situations. And that has made me stronger as a person.

What’s the best daily deal on the internet right now?

I went online to search for daily deals available today but none of them seem as interesting as what I found in the CityPockets marketplace, which is this deal for a Strip and a “Strip”! The original deal from The Thrillist was sold for $50 ($109 value) but is now only going for $40. I see 2 of such vouchers in our marketplace so if you’re looking to have a fun night out in the city, you should jump on it! ;)