There have been many studies that have shown how little time we actually have on this planet. When you take into account sleep, work, and bodily functions your ‘free’ lifespan is rather bleak. Furthermore, throw in the time wasted scrolling through non-educational social media posts, and things are even more grim. I have seen this amongst friends, collages, and myself. Sadly, breaking out of the cycle is not easy, so I wanted to identify motivators that can help break our wasteless habits. How can you get moving before you die?

Get Moving Before you Die

New models are able to provide a ballpark on how many years you have to live. My concept is to regularly bring that to the forefront of your mind. I started developing an app that counts down the time you have left alongside a progress bar.

The idea is that this can become a widget on your phone and desktop that will appear in front of you before you open social media or a game. I believe this subtle reminder would be enough to deter you once or twice, giving invaluable time back to you that would have otherwise been forfeit.

Development

This was the first android application that I have developed! This was a great learning process and showed me how little I actually knew about this process. I have more experience developing web apps and was tempted to do the same here, but took the opportunity to learn and am grateful. This project gave me the opportunity to continue to expand my skillset and test how quickly I can wrap my head around new concepts.

As I developed the application, I was surprised with how easy it was. That is, until I tried to make a widget for your home screen. Even when I threw in the towel on that endeavor, I hit another knowledge gap when trying to sign the application so I could download and share it. This project had already taken way more time than anticipated, so I decided to take my new knowledge and call it a day. I am sure I will return to mobile app development later on where I can build upon the foundation I set today.

That being said, here is a functional version of the app, recreated (much quicker) for the web:

App Demo

A Challenge

I welcome any other ideas that can help motivate people to be productive and pull them away from the comforts that lull us into stagnation. And for anyone reading this, I challenge you to stop what your are doing, get up, and do something. Even if you only do this once, that is invaluable time I’d be able to convince you to return to yourself, and that would make this post worth the time.

Meta

Because this is an incomplete project that I do not intend to finish. It will not make its way onto the project directory, rather it will land in the problems and business ideas category (secondarily to Humans, Psychology, and Sociology). Despite that, if any would find immense value in this application, please let me know. And if you are wanting a little side project and would like to develop this yourself, go right ahead! AND let me know when you’re done so I can use it 🙂

… hey… get moving before you die.