The thought you keep circling, what is it usually about?
Building Hayley has meant reading a lot of research on how people process decisions out loud.
The patterns that come up most: a relationship that needs a conversation you keep avoiding. A business decision that's already made but won't stop reopening. A version of yourself you're not sure you're living up to.
Curious what it is for the people in this community. Not looking for details, just the category.
And if you've tried Hayley and got a reflection that landed, would love to hear what it named that you hadn't quite put into words yet.
Android Beta Still Open, some spots left. - hayleyapp.com/android
Or download now on Apple App Store. - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hayley/id6767863655
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Whether I’m building the right thing, or just the thing I know how to build. Two very different questions that look identical from the inside
@dani_mashael that distinction is one of the sharpest things I've read in a while. The terrifying part is you can be years in before the answer becomes clear. That's exactly the kind of thought Hayley is built for, not to answer it, but to stop you from avoiding it.
Great quesition!
Its actually usually just about all that happened on the day. I pack so much in my day that there is no time for my mind to really process it. Working on it tho, hayley sounds like a good app for that :D
@jonas_strabel that's exactly the use case, not a big decision, just a day that needs somewhere to go. 60 seconds before bed. Let me know how it lands when you try it.
For me it's always the same loop: "am I spending my time on the right thing?" Not in a deep existential way, more like a Tuesday afternoon kind of doubt. I'll be heads down on a task, feel productive, then suddenly wonder if this is even what I should be working on right now. It never fully resolves, it just goes quiet for a while and comes back.
What's interesting is I never noticed the pattern until I started actually verbalizing my thoughts out loud instead of just letting them spin in my head. The moment you say it, you hear how repetitive it is. That's kind of the whole value of tools like Hayley tbh, not the AI part, but the forcing function of hearing yourself think.
@nolan_vu The forcing function of hearing yourself think, that's exactly it. The AI part is almost incidental. Speaking out loud collapses the loop in a way that reading your own thoughts back never quite does. Glad it landed that way.
@hayleyapp Yeah exactly, "speaking out loud collapses the loop" is a much better way to put it than what I was trying to say. There's something about hearing your own voice say the thought that makes you realize how small or repetitive it actually is. Reading it back never hits the same way. Cool that you're building around that insight instead of just layering AI on top of a journal app.
@nolan_vu Exactly, and I think that's why journaling works for some people but not others. If you're someone who processes by hearing things rather than writing them, reading it back is just never going to hit the same way.
The "layering AI on top of a journal" thing was the trap I was most trying to avoid. Most of those apps are just autocomplete for your diary. The voice-first constraint forces something different, you can't edit yourself in real time, so what comes out tends to be more honest.
What made you start thinking about this? Curious if you've tried anything that got close.
@hayleyapp Yeah, the hearing vs writing split tracks. I'm definitely in the "write it down and it just sits there" camp. I've tried Morning Pages, Notion journals, the works. None of it really clicked until I started just talking through problems out loud, even to nobody.
The voice-first constraint you mentioned is interesting though. No ability to edit yourself mid-thought means you get the raw version, not the polished one you'd write.
Usually a business decision I've already made but keep revisiting. Not because the answer isn't there, but because certainty is harder to find than clarity. Interesting question those recurring thoughts often point to what matters most.
@hassan_ismail_rebe that's a genuinely precise distinction. Clarity about what to do, certainty about whether it was right, two completely different problems. The second one Hayley can't solve, but it can stop you spending your energy looking for it.
I think it is usually decisions I already made but still keep questioning later. For me the hard part is not always finding the answer but understanding why the same thought keeps coming back
@busra_seker1 that's exactly what the pattern card does, not answer the thought but name why it keeps recurring. Usually it's protecting something. Would love to know what it surfaces for you if you try it.
The social and emotional consequences of what I'm making since it hasn't been done before. All the ways people can use it to harm themselves. What kind of safeguards I can implement.
I'm making a to-do list app where you can stick pictures that motivate you right next to the task. I'm afraid people are going to stick harmful pics, like their toxic ex...
@christina_m_nguyen Building something new always surfaces this. The fact you're already thinking about safeguards this early is a good sign, most people don't ask those questions until it's too late. Good luck with it.
Reading all of these, the pattern is striking. Almost nobody is circling something they don't know the answer to. They're circling something they already know but can't quite land on. That's what Hayley is built for. Android beta still open, hayleyapp.com/android. iOS on the App Store now https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hayley/id6767863655