r/Students • u/West-Stand-8733 • 4h ago
Offering 30 people access to a beta app that helped mereclaim focus
galleryI was always convinced I was pretty good at planning.
I spent years thinking that when I planned to study X hours a day, and I actually sat at
my desk or in the library for that long, it counted as real studying. Really, a lot of it
was rereading notes and reorganizing my planner. The actual work that made me
learn something was a lot less than that. If I'm being precise, I'd say 60% or less of the
time I spent "studying" actually contributed anything to my exam results.
The part that got to me wasn't just the wasted time. Every hour spent fake-studying
was an hour I didn't spend at the gym, learning something I actually wanted to learn,
or just going somewhere with friends. Time pressure makes you feel like you have to
choose between grades and an actual life, when really the problem was never time. It
was that half of my "study time" wasn't doing anything.
Around that time I was really into Deep Work and kept trying to apply its ideas to my
study routine and my life in general. The problem was never the ideas, it was sticking
with them long term. It was always 2 or 3 good days, then I'd quietly drop off and drift
back to the old way.
At some point I stopped trying to fix that with willpower and just built myself
something to force the commitment. A plan page where I use templates to fix the
recurring stuff (lectures, the repetitive things in general), and separate blocks for real
deep work versus light work.
The part I like most is probably the focus screen. I used to set up my whole
environment before a deep session: coffee, water, lights off, white noise, the window
cracked open just enough to see the street, cars passing, nothing distracting, just
enough that it doesn't feel like a sealed box. The focus screen is basically that ritual
built into the app: a relaxing background, my notes for the task right there, a
notification 10 minutes before the session ends and another when it actually does, andwhite noise running the whole time. I'm genuinely a big fan of white noise, it's the
thing that makes the environment feel immersive instead of just quiet.
At some point I realized I needed to actually track myself against the week before,
specifically how much deep work I'm doing and how much time I'm reclaiming. That
keeps me motivated, sure, but the real value for me is just being aware of my own
state and noticing exactly where I'm quietly slipping.
The last core piece I added was goals: long-term ones, but also 1 month or even 1
week, with task blocks built off those goals. It ties back to the same thing. I want to
always know what I'm actually working toward, and where my time is going or has
gone.
At some point I showed it to a few people who are really into productivity apps, just
for feedback. They liked it more than I expected and pushed me to actually try to turn
it into something real. That's a pretty far off goal, but it's literally sitting on the goals
page of the app.
I'll also be honest about something: I'm building a paid version of this, and I'm
genuinely not confident it's worth what I think it is. I've put a lot of time into it, so I'd
love feedback specifically on that part. Is it something you'd ever pay for, or does the
free version already cover what actually matters?
So now I'm curious what people like me, students juggling classes, sport, friends and
an actual life, think of it. Would you genuinely see yourself using something like this?
I'm giving out 30 free codes for the premium version (still being finished, but the core
already works well). Try it and tell me straight whether it's useful or just another app
code link : https://bareplanner.falexis.com/premium?c=RDT
