Chinese 'clock in' to develop good habits

Blood donor Sun Mengyuan has made the switch to a more private way of recording her efforts to realize her goals. The 23-year-old now has a collection of red cards recording her blood donations - which totaled 9,800 cubic centimeters by last month.

Sun made her first blood donation at age 18 out of curiosity. When she found out that a 1,000 cc donor earned access to free blood transfusions for a lifetime, she set that as a goal. Then, after discovering that the family of a 3,000 cc donor also qualified for free blood, that became her next target.

"I used to post the records via WeChat as a form of encouragement and a record, but some people don't support it," she said. "My parents are proud of me but worried a great deal. One teacher even thought it was a mental illness and asked me for a talk.

"But I think it's meaningful and I can help a lot of people, so I choose not to post them to the public later. Once you have formed a habit you don't need to 'clock in' any longer."

Self-discipline

Wu, the English learner, said even though the basic practicing requirement is 30 minutes a day, she aims for about an hour each time. The system, which uses artificial intelligence, gives her practice assignments according to her English ability and also assesses her progress.

"The most important thing is still self-discipline, but I will keep using the app because it not only supervises me to finish the assignment but it also has a correction function," she said. "If my pronunciation is not standard or I speak wrongly, the system will ask me to repeat until I get it right. And the reward system also encourages me to keep learning."

She said it felt awesome to practice your English and get your payment back because of your perseverance.

After running every day for a year, Wang's habit was formed.

"I feel uncomfortable if I don't run now, and it's like breathing and drinking water that do not need pressure from others," he said.

Wang stopped posting daily records last year. He had clocked up 2,400 km by the end of last month, and said he expected it might take five more years to reach his goal.

"Although it's possible I cannot finish the 6,400 km on the next leap day, I've successfully developed the running habit," he said. "Maybe I will use the method to develop other habits, like swimming or learning English."

Wang said he plans to keep running and will set mileage goals as long as the diameter or circumference of the Earth in future.

Ning Yuqi contributed to this story.