Let’s start with the basics. Full has a minimalist feel and is designed to be simple, fast, and easy to use. You start by adding goals and specifying how many times you want to meet them over a month. For example, you could add “cook dinner” as a new goal and the number five to designate that’s how often you hope to be the family chef.

​Time (Photo credit: Kansas Poetry (Patrick))

Once the basic input is stored, you keep track of progress by swiping your phone’s screen: a quick gesture to the right to add to the tally; and, a quick gesture to the left if you need to subtract, perhaps as a corrective for premature bean counting. There’s not much more going on. Just the familiar stoplight colors of green, yellow, and red to indicate progress. An option to receive reminders. And, an archive of past performance to check, if you’re so inclined.

I spoke with John T. Meyer, founder of Lemonly—the company behind Full—and asked him why people need an app to live a “full” life. After all, people managed to find fulfillment long before smartphones were invented and the appification of life began.

“Well an app certainly won’t accomplish your goals for you. We really think of Full as a reference point to help track, monitor, and visualize how you’re doing with your goals. You have to first take the time to decide what is important to you and what kind of goals you want to accomplish. To use the app Full is a commitment just like accomplishing your goals is a commitment. After you enter your goals and set a target you’re not done, you’ve just started. Our app helps give you a daily reminder of the goals you set out to accomplish and serves as a cheerleader along that journey.”

John gave a great answer because he emphasized the importance of three existentially significant things: deliberative reflection,autonomy, and commitment. To lead a meaningful life, you need to figure what, exactly, is meaningful, and resist the temptation to go on auto-pilot and blindly do the things other people just happen to value. Since what we do influences who we become, deliberation isn’t just a powerful expression of free-thinking. It is the act that determines whether we end up committing to important causes or trivial distractions. That’s why I appreciate that Full doesn’t have a drop-down menu of pre-loaded activities to choose from. If it did, it effectively would be encouraging users to spend their time living up to other people’s ideals.

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