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Spend today on purpose.

Focus Timer is a day planner with a timer built in. Plan the day in blocks, time it as you live it, and see the plan next to what you really did.

Free. The demo needs no account.

An example day: Monday, 3:40 pm. A PhD student is 32 minutes into the writing block planned for now.

The home screen of Focus Timer on an example day. A strip shows the day's plan above what has been logged so far. Under it a timer is running on the block planned for now, with the day's log beneath, beside a ring showing how much of the day's goal is done and the time each category has had.

Mon 19 Oct

Review the dayOpen plan
6 am12 pm6 pm
PlanLog
NowChapter 5, tie back to the methods
until 4:45 pm
NextBus home, milk on the way
4:45 pm, 30m
57:20

Log

  • 19m
  • 8m
  • 1h 31m
  • 47m
  • 14m
  • 58m
  • 13m
  • 17m
  • 1h 43m
  • 32m
  • 6m
  • 27m
  • 12m
  • 29m
75%
Today · Thesis
of 4h goal
9-day streak

Today by category

Thesis3hof 5h 25m
Writing1h 43mof 4h
Analysis58mof 1h 25m
Reading19m
Marking
Lab reports1h 31mof 2h 15m
Home1h 46mof 4h 5m
Travel32mof 1h 5m
Cooking0mof 45m
Morning29mof 30m
Breakfast27mof 30m
Chores6mof 30m
Planning0mof 30m
Wash12mof 15m
Break1h 26mof 2h 30m
Lunch47mof 45m
Walk0mof 45m
Tea25mof 30m
Call14mof 30m
Drift
Phone13m

Why plan a day

The example day as a strip: twenty-four hours, the plan in the upper lane and what has been logged so far in the lower.
6 am12 pm6 pm
PlanLog

This line is one day. The plan is on top, and what happened is under it.

It is one turn of the Earth.

The Earth does not wait for a plan. Since you opened this page it has carried you hundreds of kilometres.

365 turns make one lap of the Sun.

A long life is about 80 laps. That is 29,200 days.

Today is one of them.

Left to itself, a day goes to whatever turns up.

By evening it is hard to say where it went.

So decide what the day is for before it starts.

Then do one thing at a time, and let a timer keep the record.

First things first

Lay out the day in blocks.

Type one line for each block, or fill the day from your ideal week and adjust it. Blocks cannot overlap, and when you lengthen one the blocks after it move with it.

The example day's plan as a list of blocks, each with its times, its category and its length.
Thesis5h 25m planned of 4h
  • 30m
  • 15m
  • 30m
  • 35m
  • 2h
  • 15m
  • 1h 25m
  • 45m
  • 1h 15m
  • 15m
  • 2h
  • 30m
  • 45m
  • 45m
  • 30m
  • 1h
  • 30m
  • 30m

One thing at a time

Run one timer for whatever you are doing.

Start it from the plan, or type what you are starting and press Enter. It keeps counting if you close the tab, and it is waiting on your phone when you pick it up. Start the next thing and the one you left is saved, so the log runs on without a gap.

The example day's log so far: one row for each session, with its times, its category and its length, each starting where the one before it ended.

Log

  • 19m
  • 8m
  • 1h 31m
  • 47m
  • 14m
  • 58m
  • 13m
  • 17m
  • 1h 43m
  • 32m
  • 6m
  • 27m
  • 12m
  • 29m

One goal for direction

Keep one goal in front of you.

Choose a category and a daily target. The ring fills as you log time toward it. The streak counts every day you put time into it, whether or not you reached the target.

The goal card: a ring showing how much of today's target is done, the time logged toward it, the last seven days as a line, and the streak.
75%
Today · Thesis
of 4h goal
9-day streak

At the end of the day

Read the day back.

The plan is in one column and what happened is in the other. With them is the share of your plan you followed, and for each category the time it got against the time you planned for it.

Plan against log for the example day so far: the share of the plan that was followed, then the time logged, planned, missed and off plan, and a bar for each category.

Plan vs log

Plan counted up to now

78%on plan

7h 56m
logged
8h 40m
planned
1h 54m
missed
18m
over
52m
off plan
Thesis3hof 4h 20m
Writing1h 43mof 2h 55m
Analysis58mof 1h 25m
Reading19m
Marking
Lab reports1h 31mof 1h 15m
Home1h 46mof 1h 50m
Travel32mof 35m
Morning29mof 30m
Breakfast27mof 30m
Wash12mof 15m
Chores6m
Break1h 26mof 1h 15m
Lunch47mof 45m
Tea25mof 30m
Call14m
Drift
Phone13m
The example day drawn hour by hour in two columns. The plan is on the left and the sessions that were logged are on the right.
Mon19 OctPlanLog
1 am2 am3 am4 am5 am6 am7 am8 am9 am10 am11 am12 pm1 pm2 pm3 pm4 pm5 pm6 pm7 pm8 pm9 pm10 pm11 pm

What it counts, and what it keeps private.

Only logged time counts.

A plan is never added to a total, and neither is a pause. A session that is still running is counted when you finish it.

We cannot read your task names.

They are encrypted in your browser with a passphrase only you know. The server stores text it cannot read.

You can take everything with you.

Export your whole history as Markdown, CSV or JSON whenever you like.

Also built in

Ideal week
Shape each weekday once, then fill any day from it.
Your own categories
Name them, colour them, and say which count as focus and which are breaks.
Edit the log
Fix a time, rename, or add a session you forgot, on the day it belongs to. Undo and redo any of it.
Any device
A session started on your laptop shows on your phone. Nothing is counted twice.
Pomodoro mode
Work and break cycles, with a longer break after every few. Off until you turn it on.
An AI assistant, if you want one
Give Claude, or any assistant that supports MCP, read-only access to your plan and your log.

Decide what the next hour is for.

Free. The demo needs no account.