The Motivating Power of Checkmarks
Mar 01, 2025 06:00AM ● By Paul Chen
Back in January, I wrote about getting better at New Year’s resolutions. I ended my letter with three changes I was making in 2025 that should boost the probability of achieving my goals. “The third change … is to track progress, and it’s actually something I already do. However, … the app I use doesn’t provide the satisfaction and encouragement of seeing and being reminded of improvement. So, while I might continue using the app, … I will make paper versions of my trackers and mount them where I can see them every day.”
Shortly after creating paper trackers, I discovered the web-based app xTiles, which I like to describe as “Legos for the mind.” According to the company, “xTiles is a visual note-taking tool designed to help you think it over.” It offers an “easy-to-use and flexible canvas, based on blocks, tiles, and tabs, allowing you to boost your ideas and store helpful content in the most organized form possible.” Elsewhere, it is described as an “easy-to-use solution for task management and planning, collaborations and building knowledge bases.”
So, for this letter, I put on an old persona: that of a quasi-geek! It combines the excitement an adolescent has when discovering “the next big thing” with the enthusiasm of an evangelist wanting to tell everyone how great the next big thing is!
I became enamored with computer technology at a young age. I grew up the son of a CIO, although the title didn’t exist back then. Before PCs, we often had a Teletype terminal at home so my father could work extra hours out of the office. He also had one of the first electronic four-function calculators, and my introduction to personal computing was his university’s Apple II.
Fast forward a few years into my early professional life, which almost always included computer technology. I never got into programming, thus the “quasi” prefix above, but I always dug deep into what applications were capable of and enjoyed learning new programs. As a market analyst, I was thrilled with downloading mainframe data into my PC and dropping it into Lotus 1-2-3—for all you young’uns out there, that was the first mass-market spreadsheet.
Anyway, xTiles is so compelling that I lost a weekend exploring it and creating my ideal resolution/goal tracker. And because we have kept article ideas for Natural Awakenings in multiple places, I created an xTiles tab that consolidates all that into one screen.
xTiles has several “bricks”—or “add content” functions—such as text, image, checkbox list, table, URL, embed codes for videos—and on and on. There’s a plethora of formatting options to make your workspace look exactly the way you want it to. You start with an empty canvas and assemble “tiles” of content and functions. Of course, you can short-circuit creating stuff by accessing a sea of free templates that are grouped into planning, productivity, work, education and personal life.
The reason I’m writing about this is twofold. First, I can imagine that everyone can benefit from using xTiles; there is a free plan. It is easy to use, intuitive and highly customizable. After a couple hours of learning how it works, you should be able to build a custom “app” to improve the management of some aspect of your life.
But most importantly, I discovered that a graphical goal tracker that allows me to readily see how I’m progressing is a big motivational tool! I’m pleased to say that I’m actually consistently recording whether I’m hitting my daily goals or not. And because I can see my performance—or lack thereof—I am more motivated to meet goals. In fact, for my three foundational resolutions, I missed just one day in January for two of them and just two days for the third.
Shortly after creating paper trackers, I discovered the web-based app xTiles, which I like to describe as “Legos for the mind.” According to the company, “xTiles is a visual note-taking tool designed to help you think it over.” It offers an “easy-to-use and flexible canvas, based on blocks, tiles, and tabs, allowing you to boost your ideas and store helpful content in the most organized form possible.” Elsewhere, it is described as an “easy-to-use solution for task management and planning, collaborations and building knowledge bases.”
So, for this letter, I put on an old persona: that of a quasi-geek! It combines the excitement an adolescent has when discovering “the next big thing” with the enthusiasm of an evangelist wanting to tell everyone how great the next big thing is!
I became enamored with computer technology at a young age. I grew up the son of a CIO, although the title didn’t exist back then. Before PCs, we often had a Teletype terminal at home so my father could work extra hours out of the office. He also had one of the first electronic four-function calculators, and my introduction to personal computing was his university’s Apple II.
Fast forward a few years into my early professional life, which almost always included computer technology. I never got into programming, thus the “quasi” prefix above, but I always dug deep into what applications were capable of and enjoyed learning new programs. As a market analyst, I was thrilled with downloading mainframe data into my PC and dropping it into Lotus 1-2-3—for all you young’uns out there, that was the first mass-market spreadsheet.
Anyway, xTiles is so compelling that I lost a weekend exploring it and creating my ideal resolution/goal tracker. And because we have kept article ideas for Natural Awakenings in multiple places, I created an xTiles tab that consolidates all that into one screen.
xTiles has several “bricks”—or “add content” functions—such as text, image, checkbox list, table, URL, embed codes for videos—and on and on. There’s a plethora of formatting options to make your workspace look exactly the way you want it to. You start with an empty canvas and assemble “tiles” of content and functions. Of course, you can short-circuit creating stuff by accessing a sea of free templates that are grouped into planning, productivity, work, education and personal life.
The reason I’m writing about this is twofold. First, I can imagine that everyone can benefit from using xTiles; there is a free plan. It is easy to use, intuitive and highly customizable. After a couple hours of learning how it works, you should be able to build a custom “app” to improve the management of some aspect of your life.
But most importantly, I discovered that a graphical goal tracker that allows me to readily see how I’m progressing is a big motivational tool! I’m pleased to say that I’m actually consistently recording whether I’m hitting my daily goals or not. And because I can see my performance—or lack thereof—I am more motivated to meet goals. In fact, for my three foundational resolutions, I missed just one day in January for two of them and just two days for the third.
While on the subject of apps, let me mention Yuka, an app for conscious eaters. Yuka grades grocery store items by scanning barcodes and assigning quality scores. Products are analyzed and graded on three criteria: nutritional quality, the presence and type of additives, and organic dimension. It has advised me on scores of purchases, and I definitely feel like I’m getting a better deal for my grocery dollars because of it. ❧
Publisher of Natural Awakenings Atlanta since 2017, Paul Chen’s professional background includes strategic planning, marketing management and qualitative research. He practices Mahayana Buddhism and kriya yoga. Contact him at [email protected].
