In my last post, I shared my experience of being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and introduced Spontaneity, a mobile app I’m building to address the challenges of balancing structure with flexibility. Inspired by my own journey, Spontaneity is designed to bring meaningful randomness into daily routines — whether it’s a spontaneous reminder to check in with a friend or a gentle nudge to take a break from your desk. The app helps users break free from rigid routines and discover joy in the small, unexpected moments each day can offer.
Bringing Surprise to Everyday Tasks
At its core, Spontaneity is more than just a reminder app. What sets it apart is its ability to introduce randomness into your daily routine, helping you break free from rigid schedules. Traditional reminders are predictable and can easily become background noise, but with Spontaneity, you can set reminders that show up randomly within specific intervals, making each prompt feel fresh and unexpected.
For example, instead of scheduling the same reminder to buy flowers for my wife on the 1st of every month, I can set it to trigger randomly within a chosen time interval — say, once at any point during the month. This randomness ensures that the gesture feels more spontaneous and genuine, bringing back the element of surprise and preventing it from feeling like just another task on my checklist.
Another challenge I face is staying connected with friends. I deeply care about them, but I often go months without texting simply because if it’s not on my to-do list, it tends to slip my mind. With Spontaneity, I can set random reminders to check in with people I care about. Unlike a typical recurring reminder, the random nature of the notification keeps the interaction from feeling forced, helping me stay engaged with my social life without it becoming just another item on my agenda.
Prioritizing Self-Care with Flexibility
Spontaneity also takes a different approach to self-care. Instead of rigid reminders that interrupt your flow, the app can give you gentle nudges at unpredictable intervals, encouraging you to take care of yourself without the pressure of constant, repetitive alerts. Whether it’s standing up, drinking water, or stepping away from your desk for a few moments, Spontaneity introduces variety into your routine, making self-care feel like a natural part of your day.
The app also lets you snooze reminders, giving you the flexibility to manage your time without feeling overwhelmed. For example, if I’m deep in focus mode and a reminder pops up to take a break, I can easily snooze it and have it resurface later, giving me control while keeping my well-being in mind. This flexibility makes Spontaneity more adaptable to the unpredictability of daily life.
By weaving these tailored, randomized reminders into daily life, Spontaneity reinvents routines. It blends structure and freedom, allowing both personal and professional tasks to feel lighter, less scripted, and more enjoyable.
What Makes Spontaneity Unique?
Unlike traditional productivity or reminder apps, Spontaneity stands out because it avoids the rigidity of scheduled alerts and embraces the power of randomness. This approach mimics the unpredictability of life, helping you stay engaged and present without feeling like you’re locked into a strict routine.
Whether you need to rekindle your relationships, take care of yourself, or add a spark of spontaneity to your day, the app creates a sense of playfulness and surprise in your daily activities. The key here is balance — giving you enough structure to stay productive, while providing the freedom to live in the moment.
Looking Ahead: Building in Public
This post marks the beginning of my build in public journey for Spontaneity. In future updates, I’ll be sharing the thought process behind developing this app, the technical challenges I encounter, and my progress as I bring this idea to life.
I’m excited to explore this journey openly and transparently, and I hope it will resonate with others who are trying to balance structure, creativity, and spontaneity in their own lives. Stay tuned for more insights as I take this next step!
If you’d like to get in contact, try reaching me on Mastodon first. LinkedIn works too, but I don’t check it often.