It's Health Month Time Again! March 1, 2011 9:48 AM   Subscribe

Are you a geek? Do charts and graphs help you accomplish things? Do you have personal goals that might could use some group encouragement? Join Team Metafilter for the March game over at Health Month!

We ended February in 5th Place. Can we make it higher this month?
posted by ocherdraco to MetaFilter-Related at 9:48 AM (67 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite

goals that might could use

You can take a girl out of the South...

posted by ocherdraco at 9:49 AM on March 1, 2011 [4 favorites]


Well, bless your chart.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:51 AM on March 1, 2011 [14 favorites]


that phrasing needs fixed. :)
posted by Babblesort at 10:02 AM on March 1, 2011


Please don't :)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:03 AM on March 1, 2011


Double modals are awesome. (Talked about in this Way With Words ep too.)
posted by kmz at 10:16 AM on March 1, 2011


Why does it say that today is the 2nd of March?
posted by achmorrison at 10:37 AM on March 1, 2011


I had a great time last month and want more of you to do it with us. Especially since this month, if I lose, I have to take an entire day off from the internet!
posted by SMPA at 10:58 AM on March 1, 2011


What's an iPad?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:10 AM on March 1, 2011


I have added one rule and I cannot figure out for the life of me how to add more.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:14 AM on March 1, 2011


Wait! I finally got it!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:18 AM on March 1, 2011


I joined. I've been looking for a fun habit-tracker. I was very sick for almost two years and am finally well enough to start trying to rebuild my fitness and energy levels, but it's hard to get started when you're so depleted.
posted by not that girl at 11:52 AM on March 1, 2011


not that girl, I feel exactly the same way. I joined and am looking forward to ROCKING my three goals this month.
posted by saveyoursanity at 11:54 AM on March 1, 2011


I have way better goals this month ... yay!
posted by ChuraChura at 11:55 AM on March 1, 2011


I loved using Health Month in February so much that I paid up for March. It's great. And huge, huge props to ocherdraco for leaving encouraging comments all over the wall and helping everybody figure it out!
posted by web-goddess at 12:07 PM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]


I keep misreading "Health Monther" as "Health Monster" and I'm not upset by that at all.

Also, I have a sponsorship, if someone out there wants it.
posted by troika at 12:19 PM on March 1, 2011


Not just badges, but we had delicious internet pie at the end of the February with all our leftover fruit.

not that girl--This thing is great for starting small because you can set small, achievable goals and be rewarded for them. And if you mess up, the rest of us will have virtual fruit to "heal" your life points if you want us to...
posted by BlooPen at 12:59 PM on March 1, 2011


Could HealthMonth be added to the 'Also on' section in our profiles? I just added a profile link example at the wiki.
posted by Memo at 1:11 PM on March 1, 2011 [4 favorites]


I am not going to do it this month because SXSW is going to disrupt my life completely, but I am totally in for April.
posted by immlass at 2:17 PM on March 1, 2011


Seconding memo's suggestion. Great idea.
posted by bearwife at 2:25 PM on March 1, 2011


HealthMonth has been a fantastic way of helping me stick to my goals. I set what I thought were realistic goals at the start of February, only to find that they were ridiculously easy by the end of the month, so I suggest that people set 'stretch' goals rather that easy ones.

Yeah, ocherdraco has provided an incredible level of support to the team, both in terms of motivation and techy stuff.
posted by dg at 2:43 PM on March 1, 2011


Pursuant to Memo's request: profiles on HealthMonth are public, and use the format healthmonth.com/profile/username.
posted by catlet at 2:55 PM on March 1, 2011


I'll play! I'm Xanify.
posted by Xany at 2:56 PM on March 1, 2011


I liked doing it for February, but I'm going to take March off. With trips to Austin and San Diego, it's going to be too hard to keep checking in, but I'll be back for April!
posted by booknerd at 3:35 PM on March 1, 2011


I loved it in February. I'm excited about March. I rocked it last month, I hope to rock it again! And you guys are the best teammates. For real.
posted by pazazygeek at 3:39 PM on March 1, 2011


I joined yesterday after being reminded about it on the podcast (I forget which mod mentioned it, but whoever did, thanks!). Still says it's March 1 for me; apparently I can't record my achievements for March 1 until it's March 2. I did set my time zone in my profile, so maybe it's going by that (I don't remember what the default is if you don't specifically set it).

I like the general idea, but site navigation is a PITA. (In fairness, it's apparently just one guy doing it and he still considers it a "beta.") But I don't think I'd pay for the site (required if you want to have more than three rules, I think) without some significant improvements to the navigation.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 3:46 PM on March 1, 2011


Yeah, I find getting around on the site to be quite counter-intuitive at times. It seems that he's trying to be too cutting-edge with the design, rather than making it work first and then adding all the geeky goodness to a working model.
posted by dg at 4:42 PM on March 1, 2011


I'm waiting for decadence/self-destruction month myself. Graphs are welcome there as well.
posted by jonmc at 4:44 PM on March 1, 2011


I'm in. I'll really need it more next month (month 3 of a pretty big dietary change) but may as well get used to the tool now.
posted by restless_nomad at 5:07 PM on March 1, 2011


I'm also signed up, though I think the goals I picked are pretty weakass. But looking forward to it!
posted by kerning at 5:28 PM on March 1, 2011


I'm waiting for decadence/self-destruction month myself
Here's my rules for that game:
  1. Get shit-faced, falling-down drunk at least three times per week (at least one of these must be before noon on a work day)
  2. Smoke at least 40 cigarettes per day
  3. Not eat anything that doesn't contain either saturated or trans fats.
Achieving all of these over an extended period will be difficult but, if I'm willing to work hard at it and make sacrifices, I think I can make it.
posted by dg at 5:54 PM on March 1, 2011 [2 favorites]


Oh, darn, I didn't see "take medication" until after I confirmed my rules.
posted by Karmakaze at 6:32 PM on March 1, 2011


I'm at NoraReed. I'd like to connect it so that my profile links to my Twitter but I'm worried it's gonna try to update it without my permission-- does it ask you before posting updates?
posted by NoraReed at 7:56 PM on March 1, 2011


Mine's connected, and it's never posted anything. I think it's more so other folks can find your Twitter account!
posted by web-goddess at 9:16 PM on March 1, 2011


Thanks so much, ocherdraco! This is great.
Well, it's great right now when I'm full of beginner's enthusiasm.
posted by angiep at 9:33 PM on March 1, 2011


I, too, enjoy graphs a little more than I should. I've set some modest-ish goals (stuff I've done before, just not in the last 6-9 months...), will see how they go :).

I chose the wildly imaginative name of metaBugs.
posted by metaBugs at 4:59 AM on March 2, 2011


When you link your Twitter account it posts your tweets on your HealthMonth profile. It also allows you to share things like your current report via a "tweet this" button.
posted by SMPA at 6:15 AM on March 2, 2011


So after midnight local time (i.e., on March 2) I was able to record whether I followed my rules for March 1. And then I was immediately able to record the same for March 2. Weird.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 6:22 AM on March 2, 2011


Due to some personal stuff, I fell off the wagon big, big time last month (mainly regarding visiting the website and keeping track of my progress, the actual rule keeping didn't even go too bad) but I'm all ready to go again for March!
posted by Ms. Next at 6:37 AM on March 2, 2011


karmakaze: Oh, darn, I didn't see "take medication" until after I confirmed my rules.

Me neither. I'm bummed I missed out on a freebie.
posted by saveyoursanity at 7:50 AM on March 2, 2011


DevilsAdvocate, I think the daily function is different for the first day of the month (or first day of play if you join late).
posted by catlet at 8:34 AM on March 2, 2011


So it seems, but if that was a deliberate choice on the part of the site owner rather than a coding error, I'm having difficulty seeing the reason for it.

On a separate note: I was curious how it would handle the partial weeks at the start/end of the month. Apparently it just takes the day of the week of the 1st of the month as the start of the week for that month, so for March a "week" is Tuesday through the following Monday. Which makes sense, but I'm still curious how it will handle the three days at the end of the month.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:45 AM on March 2, 2011

Me neither. I'm bummed I missed out on a freebie.
I wish it were a freebie. My friend whose job it was to nag me every morning isn't allowed to use IM at work anymore and my compliance has, uh, slipped a little.
posted by Karmakaze at 8:51 AM on March 2, 2011


I don't get it....my profile shows the rules I picked, but when I click the "play your turn" thing, it tells me to pick rules. Who do I believe?
posted by nevercalm at 11:31 AM on March 2, 2011


I have added myself for April. I'm gonna start easy and then ramp up some in subsequent months.
posted by immlass at 11:37 AM on March 2, 2011


OK, I think I've sorted it out. Anyone care to sponsor a co-Mefite down on his luck until he can pay next month?
posted by nevercalm at 1:08 PM on March 2, 2011


Nevercalm, I'm happy to sponsor you! Will look for your user name at the web page.
posted by bearwife at 1:34 PM on March 2, 2011


Wow, you rock! Thanks!
posted by nevercalm at 3:24 PM on March 2, 2011


I have a sponsorship too if any Mefites need one. (I'd rather give it to one of you guys than the random beggars who've popped up in the HM comments in the past few days.)
posted by web-goddess at 4:17 PM on March 2, 2011


I just signed up and I am glad to be forced to work out 4 times a week this month. Ugh! This is gunna kick my unhealthy butt. I am so excited!! I promise that I will do what it takes to keep a mefite on the internet.
posted by phytage at 5:30 PM on March 2, 2011


web-goddess: "I have a sponsorship too if any Mefites need one. (I'd rather give it to one of you guys than the random beggars who've popped up in the HM comments in the past few days."

I too have a couple of sponsorship chips to give out if anyone here needs them, although by now I guess most have already started March.
posted by Memo at 8:42 PM on March 2, 2011


I just joined the team, though it's late - I hope that's okay. This is my first time actually trying it though I've had the account for a long time. I'm hopeful the team aspect will help! If anyone can sponsor me that would be great. My name there is the same as here.
posted by marylynn at 3:06 PM on March 3, 2011


I'm still curious how it will handle the three days at the end of the month.

It readjusts the frequency of your goals to compensate. I don't know the exact mathematics of it, but if you have a goal that you need to accomplish three or four times a week, it'll say you only need to do it once or twice during the abbreviated week. Or if you have, say, a goal to limit sodas to 7 per week, during the three-day week you'll be limited to 3.
posted by brookedel at 3:19 PM on March 3, 2011 [1 favorite]


Thanks, brookedel.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:20 PM on March 3, 2011


It gave me a fruit but I don't know why. I feel like the scientists in that episode of Better Off Ted where they are arbitrarily given a red labcoat.
posted by NoraReed at 5:58 PM on March 3, 2011


You get fruit for filling out your daily report. You also get fruit for posting to the game wall (not always, but fairly reliably). Then, later in the month when we get lazy and lose life points, we can beg for healing - two fruit from someone else = 1 life point, or four of your own fruit = 1 life point. I love that the individual fruit in my fruit stash change every time I log in. I am easily amused.
posted by catlet at 6:34 PM on March 3, 2011


But I don't think I'd pay for the site (required if you want to have more than three rules, I think) without some significant improvements to the navigation.

Turns out I was wrong about that. I've managed to learn where the main stuff is, and I'm in for April.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 5:43 PM on March 13, 2011


Any hope of getting a sponsor for April? http://healthmonth.com/sponsorships/application/4278
posted by Karmakaze at 10:53 AM on March 14, 2011


I'm sure someone's got one. I'll ask on the game wall.
posted by ocherdraco at 11:25 AM on March 14, 2011


Looks like it worked!

By the way, the word "sponsor" is currently banned from the game wall (as a stopgap to deal with all the sponsorship spam that was happening at the beginning of the month). If you want to ask the team for sponsorship, might be best to link to your profile and ask for a sponsor in some oblique way for now.
posted by ocherdraco at 11:49 AM on March 14, 2011


Whoo! I have been sponsored. (Thanks)
posted by Karmakaze at 2:04 PM on March 14, 2011


So, what does sponsorship give you? Does that allow more than three rules? If so, I'd love one, if only so I can be sure of beating webgoddess, who is consistently winning in our team ;-)
posted by dg at 3:55 PM on March 14, 2011


I have two sponsorship chips for anyone in need as well.
posted by bearwife at 4:57 PM on March 14, 2011


Yes, dg, sponsorship (or shelling out US$5) gets you beyond the three rule limit.
posted by ocherdraco at 11:35 PM on March 14, 2011


In that case, I would love one if there are any spare.
posted by dg at 11:45 PM on March 14, 2011


dg: "In that case, I would love one if there are any spare"

I think you need to apply for an sponsorship for April first.
posted by Memo at 2:45 AM on March 15, 2011


I have two sponsorship chips from the early beta, but apparently can't use them on myself. Apply for April and let me know the link and I'll see if I can pass forward the sponsorship goodwill.
posted by Karmakaze at 7:37 AM on March 15, 2011


Well, clearly they don't want people to apply for sponsorships, because that is the most counter-intuitive way of doing something I've seen in a while. You have to (without a clue as to what lays ahead) set more than three rules, then confirm them and 'sign' the agreement to follow them and then a page comes up telling you how to pay or apply for sponsorship. Ugh.

Anyway, I worked my way through the maze and here's me begging.
posted by dg at 7:12 PM on March 16, 2011


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