A feature that allows you separate completed tasks by how long ago you completed them.
Why?
There was an infamous Psychology experiment that gave people a Rewards Card at a carwash. Once you got 8 punches, you got a free car wash. There were two groups, one that Got a card with 8 slots, and no holes punched, and one that got a card with 10 slots, but with free punches. In other words, 2 were already punched. Both groups had to get the same amount of washes for a free one. The now infamous study found that people with the 2 holes punched got significantly more car washes.
I personally leave my āCompletedā Tasks in my task list so that when I look at it I get a sense of accomplishment and I donāt see a bunch of āundoneā tasks. I can see that "Iām actually making progress. It would just be nice if there was a way to remove those from my list after theyāve been completed for 2 days or so.
In the now somewhat infamous carwash study, Nunes & Dreze tested the effect of āloyalty cardsā by handing out sets of cards (with stamps) that allowed users to get a free car wash after eight or 10 previous washes.
The thing was, they handed out two different types of cards to participants (those sneaky psychologists):
One card required the minimal eight stamps to get the free car wash, but had no stamps āpre-checkedā (all of the stamps were blank)
The second card required 10 minimal purchases, but two of the stamps were already checked off (therefore, in reality, eight washes were still needed to get the free wash)
This seemingly similar stamp system created some surprising results.
The researchers found that only 19% of those with the first card came back enough times to get their free car wash, whereas 34% of those with the second card made it to the free wash (labeled the āhead startā group).
That means that by giving folks a āboostā in their loyalty program (even though comparatively, both cards were the same), researchers were able to nearly double the loyalty of the customers using card two.
The results seem clear: People are more likely to remain with (and complete) loyalty programs if you initially offer them some evidence that theyāve already made progress towards completing their next goal (throw in a few ābonus pointsā and the inner-gamer in us all will want to acquire more).
Lesson learned: Loyalty programs are more effective when people can see āinstantā progress. This progress makes them more likely to stick with it until completion.
Now the next piece of Psychology is, we all know how Casinos use Bright colors and loud sounds when someone wins. Research has found that ārewardsā like this release dopamine in the brain and make people want to do the things that got them that reward over and over. I think it would be effective if Omnifocus gave you a tiny reward like that when you completed tasks. Nothing cheesy. but something like a big green checkmark and a pleasurable sound. That way when you check off tasks it would reward you in the same way Casinos keep customers coming back.
Anyway, just thought those things would make people get more stuff done, and make Omni and even more indispensable tool.
