I was never one of those people who worked out daily. But that changed recently.
I moved to a new place in Miami. Luckily for me, my new building has a gym. I had to check it out.
Sitting at the front-desk everyday is this older man. As I left, he said “see you tomorrow, it’s good for you”.
At first I was kinda jarred. See you tomorrow?! Duuude - I’m just happy I squeezed in 20 minutes today!! Cut me some slack.
The next day, I woke up and couldn’t let my old man down. After all, I’m new here, I can’t be breaking my word. I showed up. I put in my time. As I open the door to leave, I hear “see you tomorrow”. I smile.
I’ve been working out almost every single day since then. And everyday, I hear the same sweet “I’ll see you tomorrow” words. I know what I need to do in the mornings.
You can learn 99% of how to build community-based products (web2/web3) from this phrase. Knowingly or unknowingly, this older man shared the key of what we do at Late Checkout. I’ll break it down it with you here.
Purpose
People often need a purpose to use a product (especially with consumer products). Designing purpose into your product that speaks to a particular community is a big unlock. It sparks missions in people. And people are happiest on missions.
I want to live long. I want to be healthy. The older man telling me “it’s good for me”, is something I inherently know is an important purpose. Challenge accepted.
Rituals
Discords are graveyards for most brands. Heck, social in general is a one way microphone for most brands. Designing rituals into your communities is what brings people back. It’ll be your graveyard antidote.
“See you tomorrow” is an incredible ritual reminder. It’s the event programming I need to show up.
Example of purpose + rituals: Lululemon sold to the Yoga community (purpose) and created community events across North America (rituals).
Whatever it is you are building, don’t forget to remind people to see you tomorrow. We need that more than ever.
See you tomorrow (ritual)
It's good for you (purpose)
That is a great intervention on his part and observation on yours Greg. Fabulous.
I've been going to jiu jitsu for a couple years now. As I leave every class, the professor (black belt), without fail says, "See you tomorrow?" It's a subtle nudge to continue the journey and it works!