Show HN: Focality – Lightweight personal planning and self-reflection

Hey everyone,

I’m happy to show this project to you after years of mostly lurking. :)

Too many people are walking through life, working on never-ending task lists, losing sight of the big picture and missing what’s really important to them. Are you constantly working on what’s most urgent instead of most important? End up where the circumstances take you instead of taking control of your own path? Keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again instead of actively working on improving things? Then Focality is here to help you!

I started building Focality while working a full-time job and then became a father. So I had plenty of time to battle-test it myself in demanding circumstances. ;) This is the tech stack I used:

  - React
  - Material UI 
  - AWS Cognito, AppSync, DynamoDB 
  - Capacitor to wrap it into native App containers (iOS & Android) 
  - RevenueCat for handling payments 
  - Sentry for detecting errors

The biggest challenge so far has been to get attention. I knew this space would be crowded, but it’s quite a bit harder than expected. It feels like a new competitor launches every day (probably is). Users have so many options that it is very hard to engage them to learn their needs.

The second biggest challenge has been the Apple bureaucracy/requirements. :)

On the positive side, I’m really impressed with how powerful the frameworks have become. A few years ago it would not have been possible for me to build a side-project for web, iOS & Android. Neither would it have looked that good without the help of a designer.

Cheers

Florian

P.S.: I’m also launching on Product Hunt today if anyone is interested: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/focality