Hi everyone. I’m a software engineer, and I’ve been working in this field for the past 7 years. Despite my experience, there’s one problem that has been holding me back for a long time.

I was constantly starting to learn something new: system design, algorithms, English. I spent the most time trying to master LeetCode because it’s very difficult to get into large international companies without it.

The problem

The same thing happened every single time.

For the first week or two, I studied almost every day. Then small breaks started to appear. Those breaks gradually became longer, and about a month later I realized I had almost stopped learning again. After some time I would start over, and the cycle repeated itself. I tried different learning methods, but eventually I noticed one pattern.

As long as my motivation was strong, studying was easy. But over time, the initial excitement faded away. I started thinking that it was okay to skip one day, then another, and after a few weeks the habit disappeared completely. At some point I realized that motivation alone wasn’t enough for me. I needed a way to constantly see that I was still moving forward, even if there wasn’t any noticeable result yet.

The solution

I decided to start tracking my effort, and unexpectedly it turned out to be very motivating.

Every time I did something useful toward my goal, I simply recorded it. At the same time, I consciously stopped focusing on the result. I realized that the result is simply the consequence of many small actions. Many things can’t be achieved just by relying on the initial motivation, because sooner or later it fades away. You simply have to keep moving toward your goal step by step.

Of course, all of this can be solved with discipline. We all have different levels of self-discipline, and for some goals it may be enough, while for others it isn’t.

The only problem was that tracking everything in notes or on paper turned out to be too inconvenient. So I decided to build a small app just for myself, because my phone is always with me.

How it works

https://preview.redd.it/ljzeq7o5uzbh1.jpg?width=360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=01b6ea65170141224657ed816fe11f0e67808c7a

1. Create an activity (Coding, Workout, Drawing - anything).
2. After each session, simply tap the card (and add a note if you want). A long press lets you record a voice note, which is automatically converted into text.
3. That’s it.

No forms, no timers, and no long journal entries. If you want, you can leave a text note or a voice note (speech-to-text), but it’s completely optional.

The main idea behind the app is to make recording your effort as simple as possible.

What you get

https://preview.redd.it/cig79o09uzbh1.jpg?width=360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a41ef84f03dc67a40ba8435663cf535a3a4af00d

https://preview.redd.it/zd9pca4euzbh1.jpg?width=360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b01f866549fa241a3e0a26e7b93bc2ee66d24e80

After some time, you get an honest picture of what you’re actually spending your time on. You can see what you’re paying attention to, what you keep putting off, and how consistently you’re working toward your goals.

I even tried adding a few “negative” activities like watching videos or playing computer games to see how much time I was spending on useless things. Right now the app doesn’t distinguish between positive and negative activities, although I think I’ll add that in the future to make this kind of tracking more convenient.

I also noticed that the app makes it much easier to remember what I was working on and where I left off, thanks to the notes.

Current limitations

• offline speech recognition isn’t ideal;
• there’s no cloud synchronization yet;
• the analytics are still fairly basic;
• the design, especially the dark theme, still needs work.

What I want to add

• a simple onboarding guide for new users (showing where to tap);
• cloud synchronization (so notes aren’t lost if you delete the app);
• better speech recognition;
• note search;
• more advanced analytics.

And the most interesting part - AI.

Not as yet another chatbot, but as a personal analyst that notices patterns, provides more detailed reports, and helps you search through your notes using natural language. I also think it would be great to have a widget where you can leave notes without even opening the app, while the AI automatically sorts them into the correct category. At the same time, the main principle will stay exactly the same: as little effort from the user as possible.

Why I wrote this post

To publish an app on Google Play, Google requires developers to run a closed test with real users. As it turned out, most of my friends use iPhones, so I had to start looking for testers online.

If you like the idea and are willing to help me a little, send me an email at stepz.qdsoft@gmail.com. Please use the email address that’s linked to your Google Play account (or simply include it in your message). I’ll add you to the tester list and send you the Google Play link.

There’s no point posting the link here because it only works if your email has been added to the tester list. As far as I know, you only need to install the app - there’s no requirement to leave a review. But if you do, I’d really appreciate it.

I believe my problem isn’t unique, and the solution that helps me might help other people as well.

This is my first post on Reddit, so I hope I didn’t break any rules - there seem to be quite a lot of them, and each subreddit has its own :)

I’d be very interested to hear what you think about the idea. If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to leave a comment - I’ll be happy to reply.

Thanks for reading.