You may have heard about the “Heartbleed Bug,” which is a bug in encryption software used by the majority of the web, include many popular websites.
This is a very serious bug that if exploited can expose private information that you have exchanged with secure websites that are vulnerable to this bug. The bug was discovered by a team of security researchers and made public on Monday, April 7th. You can read more details about the bug and how to protect yourself here.
At Lift, we take your security seriously, and here’s what we’ve done to protect you against further exploit of the Heartbleed bug. We have reissued and re-keyed our SSL certificates. Third-party services that Lift relies on have patched their systems against this vulnerability. We have regenerated keys and passwords that we use to communicate with those third-party services.
We recommend that you change your Lift password.
Following best practices, we also suggest that you use a different password for each website or service, and the use of password manager software may help with this.
If you're using Lift on the web (or on Android), you can go to settings to change your password. Click or tap on your profile icon at the top right corner and choose "Settings" (if you're logged in, you can get there directly via lift.do/settings). Scroll down and enter your new password in the indicated field to change it. (You don't need to enter it twice, and you don't need to enter the old password.) Scroll down and click on "Save settings."
If you're using Lift on iOS, tap "Me" in the lower right corner and then tap the gear setting at top right. Scroll down to the "Password" field and enter your new password in the indicated field to change it.
If you have any questions or concerns, please email [email protected].
The Quantified Diet Project: Find the Healthy Plan That's Right for You
The diet industry is broken. Lift is going to fix this.
Everything people think they know about diet is contradicted somewhere else. What diets work? What does it even mean for a diet to work? Weight loss? Long term health? Enjoyment?
We're working with researchers at UC Berkeley to answer every question possible in the name of science. More importantly, this is in the name of helping you be the healthy, high energy genius you were meant to be.
If you want to participate, sign up here.
We’re bringing in our behavior design expertise, dozens of subject matter experts and over $100k in giveaways.
Details
Starting January 1st, we will make ten different 4-week diet plans available on Lift. The diets will cover all popular diet advice and then we'll measure the results, along with our academic partners, in order to look at weight loss, difficultly, enjoyability, and effects on happiness and energy.
Here's an example Diet Plan, written for the Paleo Diet. And here's the full list:
Paleo: eat like a caveman, mostly veggies, meats, nuts. Advised by Paleohacks and Nerd Fitness.
Slow-Carb: lean meat, beans, and veggies; abstain from white foods like sugar, pasta, bread, cheese. Based on Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Body.
Vegetarian: vegetables, but no meat. Cheese and eggs are optional.
Whole foods: eat only recognizable foods and avoid processed ones. Advised by Summer Tomato.
Gluten-free: no wheat, rye, barley or wheat-based foods.
No sweets: a simple diet change that affects your insulin swings.
DASH: USDA’s current recomendation.
Calorie counting: the old standard.
Sleep more: the science says this should work. Advised by: Swan Sleep Solutions.
Mindful eating: learn mindfulness to recognize when you’re full. Advised by ZenHabits.
Writing a Coaching Plan takes about as long as writing a good blog post. Let me walk you through it.
Get started at http://lift.do/plans/new.
Decide on your end goal.
What end result will someone get after taking your plan? Choose this goal now.
When people search for plans on Lift or in a search engine, they’re usually looking up words that have to do with the end result. Mention the end result it in your Plan Name and Plan Description to make sure that people looking for a plan like yours find it.
Pick a plan format.
There are many ways to write a plan, so let me share some popular formats that you can use as a template. Click on the plan icon to view that plan’s full instructions.
Simple: Sometimes people just need a quick instruction on how do to something. Plans like 10k squats use one-line instructions to get participants moving.
Progressing Difficulty: In this kind of plan, each workout is harder than the one before. This is common for fitness plans. It’s also common when you’re building a skill that requires understanding of basic principles (like coding, cooking, financial literacy), like the Stop Saying Um plan.
Prompt-based: Some goals are best reached when you practice the same skill regularly. Giving prompts — like what to write, photograph, cook, or play— can make the process more fun and expand the participant’s skill set. This type of coaching also helps people who are stuck in a rut or don’t know how to start doing something like writing in a journal.
Quick tips about the plan creation page
Edit your plan anytime at http://lift.do/plans/admin.
You can reorder your steps after you write them.
Add links in the Plan Description & Instruction Descriptions as long as they include “http://” (i.e. http://lift.do instead of lift.do)
How do I choose a cover image?
Use your own photo or find one licensed under Creative Commons here: http://search.creativecommons.org/ (if so, remember to add an attribution in your Plan Description).
Check your plan’s public link after you save your photo to make sure you’re happy with it!
How many steps should a plan have?
We suggest at least 10 days and no more than 30 days. This is our guess based on research around building habits and how long people like to stick to habits on Lift.
How much time should a step take?
There’s no right answer, but when writing a plan remember that the same principles of behavior change still hold: take small steps, incrementally increase difficulty, repeat the behavior often enough to make it a habit. Here are key things to keep in mind:
Ask the user to do only thing in each step: Smile once, run 4 miles, do 50 squats, free-write for 5 minutes.
The step should be done only once that day (e.g. drink 32 oz of water instead of drink a cup of water every hour).
Make the instruction short. Add details in the Instruction Description.
Should I include rest days?
Sure! We’re thinking of adding features like Skip, Repeat and Pause so people can set their own pace.If rest is important to your plan (e.g. running), feel free to add it as a step. Seriously, the person taking your plan will appreciate the break!
In the current app, you can take a rest day by not checking in (today’s step will show up again tomorrow).
Can I include my own photos/audio/video/cat memes?
We don’t support those yet but we want to support more formats in the future. Link to outside sources for now.
How do I make a Coaching Profile?
Go to http://lift.do/settings or Settings in the iPhone app to upload your photo and add a short bio to your profile. It’ll show up on the plan page.
Quick Links
Create a Plan: https://lift.do/plans/new
Coaching Plan FAQ: http://blog.lift.do/coaching-plan-faq
Tips for Writing Your Plan: http://blog.lift.do/plan-writing-tips
Now you can help others reach their Lift goals by writing a Coaching Plan. Anyone can create a plan at this link:
https://lift.do/plans/new
How does it work?
When users sign up to a plan, the plan will show up on their Lift list along with an instruction for what to do that day
Steps are sequential, so each time a user completes a step, they unlock the instructions for the next step.The next step will show up on their Lift list the day after they check-in.
What are the benefits of creating a plan?
"Since I read your email last night, I’ve signed up for this plan (Get Productive the AgileWay) and ordered the corresponding book.” ~ Beta User
We’re still learning but here are some benefits we’ve already identified:
Build your brand
Engage your community
Promote yourself: give something of value to potential clients and followers
That sounds cool, but I don’t think I’m qualified to write a plan.
Hold up! You probably are.
Anyone can write a plan. We think the following people will be especially great at making plans:
You’re a coach or personal trainer.
You’re a topic expert in diet, communications, nutrition, fitness, productivity, etc.
You’ve just achieved a goal and want to help others do the same.
You want to achieve a goal yourself and know the steps to take to do so. You’d love for others to join you along the way.
You’re a teacher: you know how to structure plans and teach people new things.
You’re an author with a book that teaches skills.
What kinds of plans can I write?
Plans can be about anything!
We all have different goals and different skills to share, from training to a 5K or marathon to increasing productivity and becoming a better public speaker. Browse through the the featured plans to get a sense of what topics are popular on Lift.
View All Featured Plans
Who can take my plan?
You can share your plan with anyone using the public link included in the Details of Your Plan email. They’ll need to create a Lift account to participate.
Lift is available on the iPhone, mobile and desktop web, and soon Android.
Quick Links
Create a Plan: https://lift.do/plans/new
Coaching Plan FAQ: http://blog.lift.do/coaching-plan-faq
Tips for Writing Your Plan: http://blog.lift.do/plan-writing-tips
Do you have a skill or expertise that you’d like to share with the Lift community?
Starting today, you can create a Plan on Lift to help others achieve goals that you've already mastered. Plans are guides that tell you the daily steps to take to reach a goal. Writing one takes about as long as writing a good blog post. Let me walk you through it.
What's a coaching plan?
In Lift, a coaching plans give you daily instructions to help you
reach your goals. Followers of a plan will see the first instruction on Day 1 and unlock the next instruction each time that they check-in.
Here are some examples:
Six Weeks to a Half Marathon for runners in training
Stop Saying Um for people who want to be better at public speaking
Build a Meditation Practice in 21 days for folks new to meditation
View All 41 of Lift's Featured Plans
What are you great at? What change have you made that you're proud of? What skill do you have that you could teach someone else?
Get featured
You can share your plan with your friends whenever you want. But we’re also looking to feature high quality plans with the entire Lift community.
After you create your first draft, you may hear from us with suggestions.
This is what we’re looking for:
A specific goal with clear instructions to get you there. Be sure to explain terms that the average person wouldn’t know.
Coaches who can be active and responsive to feedback from people taking the plan.
Small actionable steps. Lift is based on momentum. Write your plan in a way that builds from something small to something large.
Get started
Create a Plan: https://lift.do/plans/new
Coaching Plan FAQ: http://blog.lift.do/coaching-plan-faq
Tips for Writing Your Plan: http://blog.lift.do/plan-writing-tips
Would you ever play a drinking game with water to stay hydrated? Some people do. That’s right, someone came up with a water-based version of beer pong to make it easier to drink enough water.
Drinking enough water sounds so easy yet it’s the second most common habit on Lift. How could something so simple be so hard?
Why we do (or don’t) drink enough water:
Stanford researcher BJ Fogg explains that if you want to perform any behavior, you need to have enough motivation and ability to do it and experience a trigger.
Behavior = Motivation x Ability x Trigger
B=MAT
Our body gives us natural motivation, ability and triggers to stay hydrated. We’re motivated to drink more water because dehydration makes us feel bad (remember your last hangover?). We all know how to drink water and most of us have easy (and free) access to it. Thirst naturally triggers us to drink water.
If you’re having trouble drinking the recommended 2-3 liters a day, it probably means that at least one of those components (motivation, ability, or trigger) isn’t strong enough. Here are some ways to boost them:
Motivation
Check out these 12 reasons to drink more water from our friends at Greatist. Studies have tied drinking more water to benefits like improved health and increased productivity.
Ability:
Keep a cup or Brita filter at your desk. The kitchen sink at Lift is only a 45 second walk away, but that was far enough away to prevent us from refilling our water glasses. Buying pitchers (we have 5 for 7 people) changed our water drinking habits immediately.
Carry around a water bottle. I drink half a liter of water during my morning and evening commutes when I do this.
Find a water alternative: If you’re someone who doesn’t like to drink plain water, try flavoring your water with fruits or vegetables. If that doesn’t work, try coconut water, bottled flavored waters (we drink Hint at Lift) or non-caffeinated teas.
Triggers
Keep a cup or Brita filter at your desk: this doesn’t just make it easier to drink water, it also creates a visual trigger that reminds you to do so.
Set up reminders. You can set up once a day reminders on Lift or set up an hourly alarm on your phone.
Stick a post-it note on your monitor that says ‘drink more water.’
Make water or healthy beverages the first thing you see when you open the fridge.
How to Drink More Water:
Right Now: Pour yourself a cup of water right now.
Then: Incorporate one of the tips listed above this week. If it doesn’t help you drink more water, keep experimenting until you find one that does. And add Drink More Water to your Lift list.
Inbox Zero sounds like a myth when you first hear about it and a farce when you first attempt it.
I finally got to Inbox Zero earlier this year thanks to tips from experts and friends on Lift. I just added the habit back again after falling off the wagon in June and revisited the tips that helped me clear my email inbox the first time.
Tips from the Expert: Kelly Forrister
Kelly Forrister is Senior Getting Things Done (GTD) Coach with David Allen Company and leader of the Getting Things Done group on Lift.
Be realistic about how much time you need each day for emptying your inboxes. Estimate is about 30 seconds to make a decision on each piece of input.
Watch the “need to decide about…” emails that get stuck in your inbox. Do you truly just need to decide? Or is there some information you don’t have yet, that you could get, to help you decide and clear the email?
Move your backlog out of your inbox. Deal with your backlog as a separate project from your day-to-day input. Pick a point in time you know represents backlog (two weeks old? two months old?) and get those all of the Inbox, to snack on as you can. There’s a good chance that the day-to-day will feel a whole lot less daunting and manageable.
Tips from the Lift Community
From people who have successfully reached Inbox Zero on Lift.
Delete or archive emails you don’t need to read. This is an especially helpful trick on Day 1. It’s a quick way to reduce your inbox count plus seeing the unread mail count go down will give you a boost of momentum to tackle the rest of your emails.
Unsubscribe from newsletters. It’s such a pain to go through the unsubscribe link for each newsletter but you’ll save oodles of time not processing emails in the future.
Set up filters. If you’re using Gmail, read this helpful guide .
Filter emails with the word “unsubscribe” into a junk folder. I use this trick for my personal email inbox. This best kept secret in email is fallible but unsurprisingly, most important emails don’t include the word ‘unsubscribe.’
Separate people from Robots: One of our engineers, Matt, filters automated emails he wants to read into a Robots folder. This way he can still read them but they don’t clutter his inbox. I started doing this, too.
Don’t give up. If you fall off the wagon, don’t get discouraged, just get back on. Even experts like Kelly have bad days, which she sharedon Lift:
How to Start the Habit:
Right Now: Take a few seconds to look at your email count. Don’t judge, just be aware of where you’re at.
Then: If you’re not happy with that number, check out the GTD site forfree articles filled with strategies to get to Inbox Zero and join theGetting Things Done group on Lift.
A Doctor, a Lawyer and a Community Manager walked into a bar. They skipped drinks, sat down and started meditating.
I reconnected with college friends this weekend. One is a doctor in his first year of residency. Another is working at a big law firm. I’m working at a startup in San Francisco.
Our lives are so different nowadays but we found a surprising habit in common:
We all meditate.
The Doctor meditates to deal with stress.
“I’m working 6 days a week and the hours never end. Sometimes when I get home, I go straight to bed only to wake up the next morning and do it all over again. There’s so much change during your first year of residency. It’s stressful.The hospital actually provides a meditation instructor to help us deal with the stress. It’s also helped me calm the million thoughts that usually run through my mind.”
The Doctor practices meditation whenever he finds a spare moment and sometimes before going to sleep. He works with the hospital’s meditation instructor in-person or listens to that same instructor’s guided meditations on tape.
The Lawyer meditates for greater awareness.
“It’s really scary when you have those weeks that just fly by: Friday comes and you can’t remember what you’ve done since Monday. It’s easy to go through so many days without being aware. I meditate for awareness. I think awareness brings greater appreciation for life. There is a greater intentionality to what you are doing everyday.”
The Lawyer takes a short break in the afternoon to meditate. She has her own office so she does it right at her desk. She doesn’t feel benefits from meditating in the evenings.
The Community Manager (me) meditates for improved focus.
“You wear so many hats when you work at a startup. A single day can include writing, talking to people online and in-person, troubleshooting bugs, and analyzingdata. Switching between different types of work can be really distracting. I’m able to focus on each task better if I’ve meditated in the morning. As a friend told me, meditation trains your brain to get into flow.”
I use meditation apps (lately calm.com). I practice in the mornings, after I set priorities for the day but before I start the first task. I’ll also meditate in the afternoons if my ability to concentrate starts wavering or if I didn’t get to it in the morning.
The great thing about meditation is that it’s for everybody.
Anyone can do it and reap the benefits. Our research showed that time of day doesn’t affect whether you feel benefits from practicing. You can meditate sitting, standing, walking or even swimming. There are many styles but no ‘best’ style; there’s just the style that works best for you.
How to Start the Habit:
Right Now: Read our post about Getting Started with Meditation. Apps like calm.com, headspace and buddhify are popular amongst Lift users.
Then: The Power Lifters–Lift’s most active users– are doing a week-long experiment around meditation this week. Check it out. If you’re up for it, join!
“I am stuck. I retired 2 months ago. I finally have all the time in the world to do whatever I want…yet, I am hiding in the house worrying about recent weight gained and accomplishing nothing!” ~ Janie
Ever feel stuck?
People sign up to Lift for a lot of reasons and one of them is because they feel stuck. Like Janie, they’re frustrated with something in their lives but don’t know how or what to change.
If you’re reading this because you feel stuck, you’re already gaining momentum. Admitting that your stuck is the first step toward change.
The second step is to do something. You can:
Do Something New: Doing new things makes us feel good and might even increase your neuroplasticity: the brain’s ability to change.
Do Something old: bring back memories of your confident, unstuck self by picking up old habits and skills.Brush up on a foreign language, take a class or even teach one.
Do something small: Something as simple as making your bedcan build a productive and positive routine into your life.
The most important thing is that you DO SOMETHING.
The biggest predictor of success on Lift is to have momentum in at least one habit. The answer to writer’s block is to write. The best way to start an exercise habit is to get out the door or just put your sneakers on.
Get into the habit of doing something and you’ll inevitably build momentum and find a way out of stuck.
Feeling Stuck?
Smile and congratulate yourself for admitting you’re stuck. Then add an easy, daily habit on Lift so you can start building up momentum.
Know someone who’s stuck?
Share this article with them and let them know you’re there if they need support.
We thought it would be cool to investigate the habits of new moms.
But since we’re not moms, we asked moms on reddit what habits helped them stay sane during the first months of mommyhood.
We learned from mothers at Mommit and BeyondTheBumpsubreddits that their goals are not much different from our own: eat right, work out, get enough sleep, etc. Moms just have to get creative to fit their habits in since they have less* free time and everything they do now includes two.
1. Shower…with the baby.
“If you’re alone and the kiddo won’t hang out while you’re in the shower, take them in with you. I know it sounds scary in the beginning, but skin sticks really well to skin. I get in, wash my little guy, then put him in a baby tub at my feet while I shower….It has saved my sanity on more than one occasion.”— bossybeans
2. Brush your teeth…whenever you can.
“Brush your teeth! At every opportunity.You might fall asleep at any time, and you want them the closest to clean possible. A lot of new moms get cavities for the first time.”— jillianjillianjiggs
3. Sleep…during your kid’s nap time.
“No matter what there is to do around the house, or how much you feel like you aren’t getting anything done… if you are tired when the baby goes down for a nap, you do it too.” — Sommiel
4. During your workout, lift…the baby.
“I miss when my daughter was tiny, I would strap her to my chest and do a round of Wii Fit step. She liked the movement and I got a workout with a 10 lb weight!” — Tenoreo90
5. Invite your friends over…to do the dishes.
“I was so embarrassed about the mess that was my house, I didn’t want anyone over. But I quickly learned that they will come over anyway as long as there’s a baby there. Let them clean, cook, walk the dog, fold laundry, or even just chat with you like an adult human being….makes a world of difference.”—ZouBisouBisou
6. Start dating… your friends.
“I call my girlfriends and ask them on dates now. It gives me quality time with friends, making sure they know I’m still there while also getting time to feel like a normal person again …it really did a lot for my sanity and my husband got to see me in something other than sweats or dirty, puked on jeans”—ZouBisouBisou
7. Make your job… a family affair.
This hack didn’t come from reddit, it’s from our friend and new momJean Hsu. She and her husband Tyler came up with a creative way to keep both of their jobs while taking care of their newborn:
“My husband Tyler and I share a desk at work, but we’re never there at the same time. On any given weekday, one of us is working at Medium. The other person is at home, taking care of Alina, our 10-week-old baby girl.”
Take Action:
Right Now: If you’re a mom,do something for yourself today, even if it’s just a shower. Not a mom? Do something for someone who is, even if it’s just a text hello.
Then: Check out the Rookie Moms group on Lift, a community for new moms to support each other in building healthy habits. You can also read more tips from reddit moms at Mommit andBeyondTheBump .
So often, we’re distracted by thoughts floating around in our minds, from grocery list items to unanswered emails. When we’re distracted, we lose productivity, quality of work and even happiness.
Mindfulness is an increasingly popular practice that teaches you how to pay attention to the present moment instead of your cranial clutter.
Be More Present by Clearing Cranial Clutter
Getting Things Done (GTD), an organizational method created byDavid Allen, trains you to effectively process incoming information like thoughts and emails into tasks.
Look closely at GTD and you’ll see it’s really about being mindful as you process information. You’ll be more productive if you give your full attention to each step of the process.
GTD has a strategy for clearing your mind called Mind Sweep. When you perform a mind sweep, you spend 2+ minutes paying attention to and writing down the thoughts filling up your mental bandwidth.
You don’t think about next steps while doing a Mind Sweep, you just write down your thoughts as they are. It’s like dumping your ex’s stuff out the window after a break up — you just want to get everything out as quickly as possible.
What’s the benefit of performing a Mind Sweep? Senior GTD Coach Kelly Forrister explains:
“The Mind Sweep process itself allows for this incredibly freeing process to just collect what’s grabbing your attention, without the cares (yet) of worrying about what you’ll do about it. Most people are amazed at what comes out of them in the Mind Sweep, from “buy cat food” to “get a new job.”
Less thoughts floating around your head means less distractions keeping you from being present.
How to Start the Habit:
Right Now: Do a 2-minute mind sweep. Set a timer, grab a notebook or open up a textbox, and go! If you have more time, check out this free guided Mind Sweep by David Allen on the GTD website.
Then: Check out the Getting Things Done group on Lift, where you can get extra support from Kelly and the GTD community.
“It’s so easy to get caught up in trying to do “one last thing” at work, and stay later than you want/should, meanwhile the people in your lives ( what really matter ) lose out.” - @augie
4 tips for Leaving Work On Time
1. Put To Do list items into your calendar: This is one of Tony’s top productivity strategies. You’ll be less likely to over-schedule your day if you’re forced to think about how much time tasks actually take you.
2. Say “No”: You’ll respect your work time more when it’s limited. Saying no to unnecessary tasks will become a mandatory way of working. Check out Leo Babauta’s post on ZenHabits.com for tips on building the habit.
3. Make evening plans: This my go-to strategy for leaving work early. It works by adding a level of accountability to my actions; staying at work late means losing out on dance class or canceling on a friend.
4. Reward yourself: When Lift user John Muldoon ran a month-long challenge to build this habit, he gave himself an extra reason to leave work on time: whenever he left work by 5pm, he’d take his wife out to dinner. The reward helped him build the habit by making it more enjoyable.
“So we went out to dinner 25 times in January 2012. We spent a lot of money but it was great for us to connect. When it came time to 4:00, I wasn’t dreading my work I was just excited about going out to dinner with my wife.”
How to Build this habit:
1. Pick one day next week to leave work early. Make evening plans that day for extra incentive.
2. Join the habit on Lift. Check out John Muldoon’s blog for more tips.
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