We got here through frustration, not ours but yours.
We heard from Tend users, over and over again, that they wanted to share more than facts with their partners. They wanted their partners to understand the toll managing their households without adequate support takes on their lives.
It wasn’t enough for users to know they were working hard. They already knew that. They wanted to share the load – not with an app but with the person they live with.
We were offering information, not a solution.
From Task Tracker to Tech-Enabled Coaching Program
So we looked around at what other solutions were available. We found a lot of shared calendars and task apps. These one size fits all programs rely on the partner who already does most of the household work to fill in all of the information and keep it updated.
We know it takes more than another well-intended tool to make real changes in our household behaviors. Acknowledging the complexity helped us to find our solution – not a stand-alone app, a deck of cards, or any of the very good books we have read on the subject – but a tech-enabled coaching program that applies evidence-backed behavioral change theories to real-life households.
There is no one size fits all solution to this problem. Every relationship is unique, and so it follows that every solution needs to be unique.
Considering just how horrible everything has been lately, does anyone have the energy to find a solution to such a seemingly insignificant problem?
Let’s think about that for a moment, though. Is it really insignificant? Think about what you and your partner fight about. Is it the state of the economy or the state of your kitchen? Figuring out a peaceful way to run our complex households is tricky, and SO MANY couples are struggling.
But do couples need one more trip through the therapy mill just to figure out who should be in charge of cleaning out the cat box? Therapy has its time and place, but therapy is about addressing the past. We wanted to focus on the future.
And so we became coaches. Evidence-based coaches. We trained With a graduate-level program that has been accredited through the International Coaching Federation because we wanted to make sure we offered credible, meaningful, and science-based guidance.
If your relationship is focused more on the past than the present, therapy is probably for you. However, if you want to find a way to communicate respectfully and constructively about how best to manage your shared life, we’ve got just the solution for you.
Well, you and your partner will discover together how to build your own solution based on your shared values. But we’re here to guide you using a simple and powerful framework, so you’re not trying to do this alone. Let’s dig in together.
Photo by AllGo – An App For Plus Size People on Unsplash
