We all have dreams, but many of us crumble in the face of procrastination and self-doubt. How do we overcome this modern-day problem? Oxford start-up UJJI thinks it has the answer…

By Rafael Guper, Co-founder & COO at UJJI

Have you ever felt there’s something wrong, but simply do not know what that is? It’s quite common to wake up and feel there’s something missing, but not know where to start. And whilst one person or another may know exactly what they need to move forward, many others may feel lost when it comes to meeting their goals.

In fact, 92% of people give up on their goals and dreams every year. [Source: Statistic Brain Research Institute – https://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/]

We all want to move forward, but it feels like there’s an invisible force holding us back. It even has a name: the Akrasia Effect. Coined by Socrates, Akrasia is when we have everything we need to take action, but choose not to. Akrasia is what prevents us from following through on what we set out to do – be it for excessive self-doubt about our skills and abilities, because we can’t seem to find the time to do what needs to be done, or simply because our brains prefer instant rewards to long-term payoffs.

Our global qualitative survey with 440 respondents across 39 countries has uncovered what we call the surrender loop – a habitual mental cycle that limits our potential. It is this seemingly never-ending state of procrastination that leads us to never accomplish our goals. Most importantly, this procrastination is both fed by and exacerbates emotional and mental health issues.

Here at UJJI, we believe this needs to change. That’s why we’re inviting you on a journey to unleash the potential of future you.

UJJI is the world’s first game-based self-coach app. We have transformed our proven life coaching techniques into games and activities that help people achieve their goals.

The name UJJI comes from Sanskrit and it means ‘to win’ and ‘to help one in winning’. As a response to the triggers of Akrasia, we’re making personal growth fun and rewarding via a methodology backed by neuroscience, delivered by the concept of serious games and fuelled with artificial intelligence.

The UJJI methodology has been developed off the back of techniques backed by neuroscience, guaranteeing legitimate scientific evidence. Each technique is validated by neuroscientists and psychologists from the University of Oxford. Unlike simple gamification, UJJI applies the concept of serious games to create well-thought narratives and instructional design resulting in scenario-based learning. UJJI combines your journey with the app’s deep reinforced learning architecture, personalising your growth and delivering meaningful insight and support to help you achieve your goals.

By baking all of this into a mobile app, UJJI is making advances in truly driving positive behavioural change, but we need you to help us deliver this change. We’re on the cusp of launching our beta product and would love for you to join us on our own journey as a beta tester.

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UJJI’s beta is opening on the 2nd of August 2021 and they are actively seeking support and feedback from Oxford’s entrepreneurial network to help them shape the final product. You can sign up here: www.ujji.app. Your help would be greatly appreciated!

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You can follow UJJI for more on their Instagram, @UJJI_App, for self-development content and updates.