Small steps improvement

The trick to improve at something is to walk a small step every single day. If you want to improve your programming skills, commit to writing one line of code every day. If you want to be fluent in a foreign language, commit to reading, listening, or writing daily. If you want to become slimmer, commit to doing exercise every day.

Modern applications use this pattern to make you improve faster—or to make you more addicted in the case of social media. For example, GitHub shows the commit grid to boost your productivity, Twitter only wants 280 characters from you, Freeletics only requires 5 minutes of your time to complete a workout routine.

Smalls steps that if done repeatedly, lead to greater results.

In the case of GitHub or Freeletics, repetition may favor your productivity or your overall wellbeing. In the case of social media, they encourage you to work for free, so they want to make it easy for you. In both cases, there is a common pattern: make it simple and small. You decide to use it in your favor or not.