Being healthy shouldn’t be this hard.

We all want to be fit, strong, and mobile, both mentally and physically, yet we find ourselves trapped in unhealthy patterns and struggle to establish good habits.

Why is it so hard to be healthy these days?

Now more than ever, there’s easy access to quick dopamine hits right at our fingertips:

Scrolling social media is easier than working out.

Ordering DoorDash is easier than cooking healthy food.

Starting another episode is easier than going to bed (you don’t even need to press play!).

In this age of information, people are confused. We’re being told that you need to eat this way, or exercise this way, or do this, or do that. In reality, all these tiny details don’t matter if you aren’t showing up in the first place.

My 8th grade yearbook quote was, “80% of success is showing up.” That couldn’t be more true when it comes to building healthy habits. Yet people are caught up in the remaining 20%.

There is no clear path to building healthy habits. If you look for answers today, here’s what you’ll get:

“Go to the gym before everyone else is awake.”

“You need to do Keto/Vegan/Paleo/Carnivore.”

“Buy my 6 week shred program and change your life.”

“Just be better.”

“You need to want it more.”

There’s nothing wrong following a specific diet or weight loss program, but those are the tiny details, the remaining 20%. People need to work on the 80% first, and learn how to show up for themselves.

That’s where we come in.

We’re on a mission to help people build good habits.

Only when people have developed the habit of consistently showing up for themselves can they make a lasting change on their health.

We’re here to facilitate that change. We’re here to help people show up for themselves, everyday. We’re here to guide people toward effective habit forming.

Introducing SquadUp, a new product from the Upspace team.

SquadUp helps people build healthy habits.

It is an app that helps you and your friends create new habits and hold each other accountable in a fun way.

It is an app that teaches you how to build lasting habits.

It is an app that makes healthy fun.

It is an app that makes habit forming social.

It is an app that is actually effective and helpful.

And it’s just the beginning.

Stay tuned.

- Chris

For 99.99% of all human history, there was no social media.

Today, the number of people using social media is over 4.95 billion worldwide.

That’s over 50% of the world's population.

Now consider this quote from Harvard Business Review…

“95% of all cognition, all the thinking that drives our decisions and behaviors, occurs unconsciously—and that includes consumer decisions.”

On top of this, according to habit expert James Clear, approximately 50% of our daily actions are driven by our unconscious habits.

Consumer technology psychology is very similar to habit-forming psychology. The business model is to get you hooked so they use your data to sell more ads. The more you view, the more money they make.

Look at the similarities between the Hooked Model and the Habit Loop…

‍Hooked Model by Nir Eyal (Author of Hooked)

1. Trigger (external to internal)
2. Action
3. Variable Reward
4. Investment

‍The Habit Loop by James Clear (Author of Atomic Habits)

1. Cue
2. Craving
3. Action
4. Reward

Social media platforms understand this very well and so do their advertisers. Whether it is tapping into our habits and getting us hooked to their platforms, or repeated marketing using the “6 touches” method to get us to buy, the ecosystem of social media is programming our subconscious and therefore our lives.

It is time to ask ourselves…Are we truly free?

Our subconscious thoughts and habitual behavior make up the majority of our lives. Both these have been targeted leading to destructive behavior that no sane human would choose.

A free human filled with contentment and love would never choose to self-destruct. Yet we find ourselves in a society loaded with self-destructive behavior such as the consumption of poisonous artificial foods, drugs, pornography, negative media, etc.

But there is hope.

The same technology and psychology that has been used to get people hooked to bad, can also be used for good.

We can use this technology and psychology to give people mastery over their habits and become sovereign again.

That is exactly what we are doing at SquadUp.

SquadUp is an app to help you and your friends create new habits and hold each other accountable in a fun way.

It is super simple and fun, yet it is intentionally designed with deep psychology to help you form the habits you desire.

We say we want you to get hooked, but rather than us choosing what you get hooked to, you get to choose. All users thus far have chosen positive habits like reading, meditating, praying, exercising, drinking more water, etc…

And it seems to be working! Here is a personal example:

I am 25 and my entire life I could not touch my toes. After a few weeks of beta testing SquadUp with my Squadmate choosing the habit of “stretching” every day, I am proud to share that I can now touch my toes!

Don’t let others choose what you are subconsciously drawn to. You become a master of one habit and you realize you can be a master of them all. Master your habits, master your life.

We hope SquadUp can help.

- Shaughnessy



P.S. Investors might not like this, but a success story to us is a user comes on our platform and becomes a master they no longer need it. Best case scenario, all 4.95 billion social media users use SquadUp until they all become masters and nobody needs it anymore and we are left with 0 users!
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