Guide

Micro-Steps App — One Small Step at a Time

The task isn't hard. Starting is. LaunchPad breaks any task into 30-second to 3-minute micro-steps. One step fills the screen. Complete it. Haptic celebration. Next step. That's the whole methodology.

The micro-steps methodology

Big tasks paralyze because they have no clear first move. "Clean room" is a blob. "Pick up every piece of clothing off the floor" is a move. Micro-steps bridge that gap.

• 30 seconds to 3 minutes — Every step is deliberately tiny
• One screen at a time — You physically cannot see what's next
• Haptic celebration — Vibration + sound on every completion. Dopamine hit.
• Forward only — No back button pressure. Skip if it doesn't apply. Forward momentum.

Why 30 seconds to 3 minutes?

Research on behavioral activation and executive dysfunction shows:

• Under 30 seconds — Feels trivial, no sense of progress
• 30 seconds to 3 minutes — Sweet spot: doable, but feels like "real work"
• Over 3 minutes — Starts feeling like "a task" again, paralysis returns

LaunchPad's 25+ templates are calibrated to this range. The first step is almost always 30-60 seconds. "Turn the tap on hot." "Stand up." "Open the inbox. Do not read anything yet."

Built-in templates vs AI generation

Template vs AI steps

Aspect	25+ Built-in templates	AI-generated (Gemini)
Speed	Instant (< 100ms)	Usually a few seconds
Offline	✅ Fully offline	❌ Needs internet
Quality	Optimized by hand	Good, automatic retry, built in
Coverage	25 common tasks, 150+ triggers	Any task you can describe

What makes LaunchPad's micro-steps unique

• No streak guilt — No daily streaks to break. No "you missed yesterday" shame.
• Skip button — Step doesn't apply? Skip it. No penalty. Forward momentum matters more than completionism.
• Back button (after step 1) — Made a mistake? Go back. But you can't go back to the "overwhelming view" — that never existed.
• Session persistence — Close the app mid-task. Reopen. You're exactly where you left off.
• Works offline — Templates work 100% offline. AI steps need connection.

The celebration matters

Every "Done →" gives a haptic tap (14ms) + a subtle sound. On task completion: triple haptic (14ms, 60ms, 26ms) + confetti. This isn't gamification — it's dopamine engineering. The ADHD brain needs immediate reward signal. A checkmark in a list doesn't cut it. A physical tap does.

What Reddit says about micro-steps

On r/ADHD, r/executivedysfunction, r/productivity: "I don't need a timer. I need the step to be so small I can't say no." "The 'one screen at a time' thing is genius — I can't see the mountain." "Haptics on every step? That's the dopamine I've been missing." LaunchPad is built for exactly this.