Sharing a Self Therapy app
Tags: productivity, startup, mentalhealth
Published: 2021-01-03 08:55:12

Hi everyone, I'm new here so not sure if this is the type of content people like to see. But here goes a little intro!  

I'm Jasmine, I run [a self therapy / mental health app](https://www.lifeintelligence.io/), LIFE Intelligence, for complete self, career, relationship development. I started this because I'm a pretty high strung type A person, and was frustrated that other apps seemed kind of vague or fluffy to me. Would love anyone into [productivity apps or self development apps](https://apps.apple.com/app/id1518619206) to check it out and share feedback, or join the [LIFE Intelligence Android Beta](https://www.lifeintelligence.io/android)!

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LIFE Intelligence is a comprehensive journey to self-awareness. We help you holistically manage stress & anxiety, improve work productivity, & build lasting relationships. Practical, science-backed, efficient: a "DIY" therapist, coach, & relationship counselor in one. 

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Last year, I left my dream job at a hedge fund to create the product I wish I’d had. As an investor, I had all this research and analysis to back up my stock picks. 📈 But why hadn’t I put the same sort of rigorous study into my most important investment: me?



The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on many of us. However, the problem I see is bigger than mental fitness. It’s threefold:



1) Self, career, and relationships are intertwined. Missing any one piece of the puzzle misses the full picture and cure. Yet, most apps focus on just one vertical.

2) Content that lacks depth and nuance is going to bore a Type-A like me. I wanted something science-backed with real “ah-ha” moments.

3) “Tell me and I forget... involve me and I learn.” A lot of us jump to seeking advice from others. Yet, coming to conclusions on our own makes lessons stick much longer.



I couldn’t find this type of holistic education anywhere, so I decided to research and write it myself. My requirements for differentiation were:



1) A comprehensive course/training/tool that

2) Was backed in science with no fluff and

3) Could make me my own coach or therapist: actionable, efficient, with lasting change



Having written a thesis at Princeton, I knew there were decades of psychology research that rarely reach those who could benefit from it most: users like you and me. So, I took my skill set studying stocks and applied it to the biggest life questions I had. Today, the result of that effort is a comprehensive course and cognitive training. It’s taken months of research and writing to create not only complete content that gets at the “how,” but also a thoughtful, curated flow.



Inside, you’ll see we offer three main features.



📘 (1) First is a 9-Mission course, comprised of hundreds of 5-min bite-sized daily lessons of snippet reading and reflection. To:



1 Build mental resilience and emotional management skills

2 Develop self-awareness and emotional intelligence

3 Discover values, set goals, track habits, stay motivated

4 Minimize regret and manage time

5 Make difficult decisions, avoid mental biases, determine direction

6 Harness stress, anxiety, and social influence

7 Understand attraction, attachment styles, dating and relationships

8 Practice communication and conflict resolution

9 Become an effective leader, mentor, manager



(Add our iOS 14 widget to your home screen, so you can get a beautiful next-lesson preview)!



😧 (2) Second is an immediate mood-management tool.



I spent a great deal of time researching the basis of emotions. How is envy different from jealousy? How do we categorize them? Do they belong in anger, disgust, or sadness? I drew from multiple academic sources to build a mood wheel. It might actually be the part of the app I’m most proud of 



Why is this so important? Sometimes I would feel “bad” but be unable to pinpoint how I was feeling or what was bothering me. After looking into it, I discovered that “emotional granularity,” or the ability to name exact emotions, is the first step to gaining control over moods. LIFE’s user-friendly mood wheel gets super specific, and is sorted by color as well as intensity, so you can see how moods, like colors, combine or change in intensity.



After choosing your mood, you’ll find exact coping, communication, and problem-solving exercises that can get you out of your bad mood in minutes. For example, if I’m frustrated, I can use the 5-Whys exercise to figure out the root cause. If I’m insecure, I can use a self-affirmation exercise. And so on.



💌 (3) Third, relationship prompts.



Why don’t we learn marriage counseling topics until it’s too late?



Consider this question I saw on a forum: “We seem to agree what toxic and dysfunctional families look like. My question is: what is a functional and healthy family supposed to look like? Is there a guide somewhere?”



A lot of replies said things like, “great communication,” “support,” “stability,” or “compromise.” The problem is, these say what to do, but not how to do it. I tried to get specific in LIFE: for example, I now know what the multiple types of support are, and when to use each. Or, what the 4 relationship ruining ways to fight are (stonewalling, contempt, defensiveness, criticism), when they might come up, and what we can do about them. It doesn’t mean I don’t mess up, but it does mean I’m far more aware of actionable ways I can improve.



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I cited all research, something very important to me. The real experts are those researchers in the psychology lab, who over decades have dedicated their lives to studying why we act the way we do. Don’t believe me: believe them. I am simply a mere curator whom I hope does a decent job of scouring, drawing conclusions from, and relating to you their findings in a relatable and insightful way.



Ultimately, my goal is to serve every person, of every culture, who could use more insight into some aspect of their lives. LIFE can be used solo, or among families, teams, companies and schools. It takes two to communicate and our moods often easily affect others.



Today, LIFE helps me stay sane, happy, and healthy as a solo founder. My hope is that if it speaks to you, you can also gain a more fulfilling, purposeful, positive life.