Proofs as your journal

What it does in Road Mates

Proofs are the main content of your profile. Over time they form a journal of what you actually did, in order, which you can look back on when motivation drops.

How it works

• A proof is added at the end of each phase and on days you choose to log.
• The log is a physical record of progress, not a feeling.
• Looking back shows the distance covered, which is easy to forget day to day.

What the research found

The most-cited work here is the Progress Principle. Researchers collected nearly 12,000 daily diary entries from 238 people on 26 project teams. Making progress in meaningful work was the strongest predictor of a good day, ahead of recognition and incentives, and about two-thirds of the events people recorded were small.

This supports the design idea: make small progress visible. It does not prove a journal causes better outcomes. The diaries were a way to measure, not an intervention that was tested.

Limits

• The study was about workplace projects.
• We found no trial that tests a progress journal as a treatment, so we count it at zero.
• Recording progress is part of monitoring, which we already count under the needle.