Sometimes it seems like we must have run out of ideas by now…I mean, 7 billion people in the world, there can’t be a whole lot of things left that someone, somewhere hasn’t already thought of, right? Every other movie that comes out lately seems to be a remake or a retool of an older film – Godzilla, Total Recall, RoboCop, Spiderman/Amazing Spiderman, Battlestar Galactica, V….Ok, so those last two are television shows, not movies – but you get the idea. There have been a rash of movies and tv programs based on fairy tales in the last few years, as well. While many times these stories are being updated, revamped, and revised, fundamentally they are still based on the same original ideas and concepts.
As someone who has recently relocated to a small town, finding employment has been…a challenge. There’s plenty of work available if you’re in the medical profession, the food service industry, you’re a dairy farmer or a logger. Outside of that, it’s slim pickings. In addition to scouring the “want ads” daily, I’ve been trying to think outside the box – there has to be something that this small town needs that I can provide, or something that can be done over the internet that’s never been done before. Some fresh new idea that will fill a niche and people will want to pay me to do…
Well, whatever it is, I’m still working on it…but the point I’m trying to make is that completely new ideas are few and far between. Every once in awhile, though, you come across something that is so brilliant in its simplicity that you think, “Huh. Why didn’t I think of that???” I had one of those moments a couple of days ago.
Through a friend of a friend, I found this website: www.dietbetter.com. Apparently it’s been around for a couple of years, but this is the first time I’ve heard of it. The site introduces the concept of Social Dieting, encouraging people to compete in Diet Bets in order to lose weight. It’s reminiscent of one of those office weight loss contests where coworkers “buy in” and then compete to lose weight, with the winner taking the pot…except, with the Diet Bet, you’re competing against yourself rather than everyone else, and the potential is there for everyone in the game to be a winner.
Here’s how it works: You join a game, or you can start your own like I did. There is a set dollar amount that each player has to pay to join, which is decided by the creator of the game. For my first game, I made it $20. Once the game starts (mine starts tomorrow!), you are challenged with losing 4% of your starting weight in 4 weeks. Everyone in the game who achieves this goal is a winner, and all of the winners split whatever money is in the pot. The Diet Better people get their cut, of course, unless such a high percentage of players win that taking out their cut would make a winner leave with less money than they put in – their “no lose guarantee” states that they will forfeit their cut in order to ensure that bet winners don’t lose money. If anyone is interested in joining in, here’s the link to my game: http://diet.bt/1tWKwLh . It starts tomorrow, and ends June 29th – just in time for all of those 4th of July cookouts.
It’s a pretty cool concept. I wish I would’ve thought of it!