It’s no rocket science. The more people you’ve got on your side when trying to achieve something, then the faster you’ll get there. And you know what? If you can’t get some people to push along with you, then getting some folks to square up against will also help a lot. It’s the best way to make sure you won’t keep leaving things for later, and gradually lose interest in them.
And as far as creating challenges and competing against people goes, then this new site has got all the right features to keep you coming back for more. New Me lets you create a need-to-do list for every day of the week, and see that all these tasks you have to do are tackled one by one.
And the app also lets you track how well you’re doing by taking notes. These can then be read by every other person that’s also trying to pick up these skills, and the one who completes the challenge first wins.
New Me was created by entrepreneur Allen Wong , and the inspiration came from a real-life challenge he took with his roommate Bruce in order to learn CSS/HTML and jQuery to put his own app together.
As of the time of writing this, five different types of challenges are supported. Their names speak for themselves, really:
- Coding.
- Design.
- Fitness.
- Language.
- Reading.
The site’s free to join, with registration being done just by supplying your email and choosing a password. There’s no support for Facebook and Twitter just yet, but Allen told me that’s a top priority. Almost all of the planned improvements are focused on turning New Me into a more social platform.
For example, you’ll be able to use a “like” button for supporting those who’re trying to pick up some skills that you know all-too well are tricky just because you have already been there. And a kind of matchmaking service is also going to be implemented shortly. This is going to let you find compatible people to work with a lot faster.
So, if you know your Javascript like the palm of your hand but you have never dabbed in HTML in your life, then New Me is going to do the hard work for you. It’ll find a suitable collaborator, and bring the two of you together to start working on these goals you have in common.