Idea: 7
Wednesday, 07 January 2015
by Francis Pedraza and Jared Kopf
Mindful
Quickly record voice memos throughout the day with an Apple Watch app, then discuss them with a life coach via FaceTime at the end of the week.
Yesterday, Jared and I were discussing how frustrating it is that “human overhead” — sleeping, eating, exercise, hygenie, friends, entertainment — and “reactive workflow” — paperwork, e-mails, meetings — keep us from doing the stuff that’s really important. Pro-active, generative, creative and strategic activities usually come last, when they should be getting most of our time.
Wouldn’t it be great, Jared thought, if there was a way to track our time? To remind ourselves, throughout the day, to re-focus on what matters? Having failed to solve a version of this problem with Everest, I responded that manual time-tracking sucks: input takes too long, consistency requires too much discpline, data requires too much analysis, software gets too complex. It takes too long to get an iPhone out of your pocket, unlock it, find an app, and type with your thumbs.
But the Apple Watch has a microphone. Imagine this behavior: raise wrist near mouth, press down on digital crown, record while speaking, then let go when finished. Quickly record voice memos throughout the day. Briefly describe your state of mind, what you’re thinking about, what you’re working on, how you’re feeling. These voice memos get stored in the Mindful app. At the end of the week, you have a FaceTime video call with your life coach. Having listened to these memos and taken some notes in advance, he or she is in a great position to help. Coaches ask and answer questions, listen to frustrations, provide empathy, guidance, advice and accountability, and help set new goals. Over time, coaches can shift the focus of the practice, emphasize different aspects of mindfulness, or teach certain techniques, much like Headspace does. Without a coach, opportunities to be mindful in day-to-day life are often missed.
Pricing
- 15 minutes a week of life coaching, $60 a month
- 30 minutes a week of life coaching, $120 a month
- 45 minutes a week of life coaching, $180 a month
- 60 minutes a week of life coaching, $240 a month
