Aspirations

I wanted to draw your attention to a very insightful article written by serial entrepreneur Lang Riley, called Goal Based Productivity.

While Lang has some positively glowing things to say about Aspire, that's not the main reason I think you should read it. He's been thinking deeply about the differences between tasks and goals for a long time, and it really shows. Separating the two can be subtle at first, but if you're conscious of it, you really begin to appreciate the advantages of doing so. Reading about how Lang's thinking evolved was like déja vu all over again for me, except written much better and clearer than I ever could.

I was also glad to see how he encountered the "limits" (implemented as a strong perceptual nudge) regarding number of goals and how by design the software encourages users to think seriously about trimming down and aggressively prioritizing. This was something I'd wanted to design in from the start, so I'm glad to see that come through so strongly in Lang's experiences.

I was also delighted to see Lang include Vitamin-R in the same article; it's author Frank Reiff and I seem to have our products periodically intersect with each other, dating back to the early 90's when we were both doing graduate work in the field of Computer Supported Cooperative Work.

Thanks again Lang for sharing your insights about Goals and experience with Aspire. I'd encourage other Mac users who appreciate in-depth and thoughtful discussions of Mac software to subscribe to his Entrepreneurial Life blog.