I recently realized that my latest two-year subscription renewal might have pushed me over the $1,000 spending mark since I first started using Beeminder in August 2020.
Sure enough, a quick AI-supported pandas script confirmed my hunch. I can say in all honesty that it has been worth every penny.
In addition to calculating my total spending, I also requested a plot for my charges by category. Don’t ask me about the ‘free’ category. I don’t want to talk about it.
I am looking forward to the next $9,000 in self-improvement fees and the ultimate goal of spending $10k on Beeminder. Thanks to the whole Beeminder team and this great community!
I have mixed feelings on the idea of derailing is nailing it. Because I feel like if you are derailing a lot then you need to adjust your goals and eventually you might become sting numb (albeit would quickly become expensive numbness).
Also for me personally it would stress me out and I would honestly just quit if I was derailing a lot. So I try to make goals that are somewhere in the middle. Not so easy that I can just slack off but not really pushing me either. Mainly because I do have some anxiety issues though have improved some with meditation. Though to be fair I dont think the post was stating you should be derailing all the time. But I feel like the mindset could lead to that and make Beeminder less effective or lead to burn out/quitting.
I prefer the prior post where it looks at derailing as more of a fee you pay to do or not do something. For me this helped me not got super discouraged when derailing but also I know hey you don’t want constantly pay fees as fees are not good per sae even when you get something in return.
I apologize if this post is a bit unorganized had a migraine yesterday and still fighting some brain fog.
I very much agree with this and I’m realizing that our blog posts about this focus on one extreme – if you’re never derailing, dial up your bright red lines! – and neglect the other extreme: if you’re always derailing, dial down your bright red lines. It’s definitely about dialing in the sweet spot where you’re getting pushed to be awesomer but not pushed so hard that you’re, y’know, less awesome.
Alternatively, instead of considering the monthly average, I like to frame it as how much I would be willing to pay to get X done. For example, finishing SICP is probably the most significant intellectual accomplishment in my life. Would I pay $1000 for a magic pill that implants the experience and the skills I gained from SICP into my mind? Absolutely. Considering the value it brings in terms of future earnings and pure joy, it might even be worth more than that.
And that’s just one goal that I picked out. I could make similar arguments for a few other ones. Just think of the implicit value of the health benefits I gain by practicing yoga or meditation.
I love this attitude so much.