Focus Timer

A focus timer with a persistent session log and fourteen-day view.

This tool works directly in your browser. Your entries stay on your device.

What it does

A focus timer that also keeps an honest record. Type what you are working on, start a focus block, take your breaks, and every finished session is written to a log. A chart shows your focused minutes for each of the last fourteen days, so you can see how your weeks actually go rather than how they feel.

How to use it

1. Write the single task you are about to work on. Be specific — “draft the intro” works better than “work on report”.
2. Press Start and work until the block ends. A short tone can play when it finishes.
3. Take the short break, then start the next block. After a few blocks, take a longer break.
4. Check the fourteen-day chart at the end of the week.

You can change the length of focus blocks, short breaks and long breaks. If you worked without the timer, you can add a session to the log by hand.

Why twenty-five minutes?

There is nothing special about twenty-five minutes. The number comes from a kitchen timer used in the 1980s, not from research. Try 25, 40 and 50-minute blocks and keep whatever you actually finish.

Tips

• The log is the point; the timer just produces it. Seeing a week of real focus time is usually more useful than any single session.
• Breaks aren’t counted in the chart, so they don’t inflate your numbers.
• Start with the task you are most likely to avoid. One block on it usually makes the rest of the day easier.