Why this exists
Most lists of things to do in a lifetime are the same fifty lines with different photos. They tell you to see the northern lights and stop there, with nothing about which month to go, or that most people give up and go back inside an hour too early.
The apps that hold these lists usually want something back: a streak to protect, or a feed to check. That turns a list of things you care about into one more thing that asks for your attention.
We wanted two plain things instead: a page for each idea that tells you what it is actually like, and a list that is nobody's business but yours.
What is here now
The catalogue. Ideas are grouped by subject, from travel and nature to money, home and the small everyday. Each idea is one page, and every page has the same parts:
- Why it is worth doing. One paragraph that starts from something concrete, like a place or a number, rather than from a slogan.
- The practical part. Roughly what it costs, the best time of year, how hard it is and how long it takes.
- What people get wrong. The one or two things that catch most people out.
- Also this. A few related ideas, for when one leads to another.
There are also lists: short collections of ideas that belong together for a reason. When enough ideas share a place, that place gets a page of its own, which gathers everything worth doing there.
Nothing on the site needs an account, and nothing asks you to sign up to read it.
What is coming
An iPhone app for the list itself. It will have three places: ideas that are on the list, the ones you mean to do this year, and the ones that are done. When something is done you can add the date, a note and one photo, so the pile becomes a record of what you actually did.
Done works in both directions. You can add things you did before the app existed, straight to Done, with just the year; nobody remembers the exact day of a trip in 2011. Some ideas can be done more than once, like a marathon or a country you keep going back to. Those hold every time you did them and still count as one: done ×3, first 2014.
The list stays on your phone. If you want it on more than one device, it syncs through your own iCloud account, which we never see. You will be able to export everything as a file whenever you like. There will be no notifications unless you turn them on, and the only one on offer is seasonal: a note when the season starts for something on your list, such as the northern lights in autumn.
If you would like one email when the app is ready, you can join the waiting list from the home page or any idea.
How an idea is written
A language model helps with the first draft. People do everything after that.
- A brief. We write the idea's title, the one thing that makes it worth doing, and a few facts the page must include.
- Drafts. A model writes three versions against our style guide. A second pass criticises them and picks the least generic one.
- A rewrite. A person rewrites the paragraph in full. This step is never skipped.
- A fact check. Every price, season and duration is checked against a real source. Anything that cannot be checked is cut.
- A second reader. Someone else reads it against a short checklist. Could this paragraph describe a different idea with one word changed? Does it open with a definition? Is there a sentence that is only tone and no information? If it fails, it goes back to step three.
- Publishing. Only then does it go live, with a record of who edited it and who reviewed it.
The model never publishes anything.
What we will not build
- A feed, followers, likes or comments.
- Streaks, badges, points, or reminders designed to make you feel behind.
- Public profiles. Your list never becomes a web page.
- Advertising. It does not fit with keeping your list private.
The only sharing we plan is small and deliberate: one idea shared with one person, so that when either of you marks it done, the other sees it.
How it will be paid for
The site is free and will stay free. The first version of the app will be free too. Later there will be a paid tier, priced low and meant to fund the writing, probably with a one-off option for people who would rather not subscribe to anything. None of that is settled yet, and we will say so plainly when it is.
Contact
Write to [email protected].
Corrections are especially welcome. If a price, a season or a detail on any idea is wrong, tell us and we will fix the page.