About Authentic Timer

In November 2024, I was enduring an illness that limited my quality of life and forced me to manage my time carefully in the few hours a day I could focus in front of a screen. I started looking for a clean timer and task manager that felt safe and uncluttered, but I always ended up combining apps like Notion, Forest, and Todoist (which I love) instead of using just one tab in my browser as a ‘productivity hub’. I thought about the hassle of always deciding what background music to play, or looking for inspiration while staring at the screen, when what I wanted was a calming desktop. That’s when I came up with the idea of an ‘authentic timer’: a clean timer with no fluff that would help me prepare my sessions, giving myself 25, 30, 45, or 50 minutes to read 50 pages of a book, clear my Gmail inbox, tackle some paperwork, and list everything I’d be working on.

Some books inspired it, too. ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear, of course, showed me the importance of getting things done just by showing up and doing 1% more than yesterday. ‘Four Thousand Weeks’ by Oliver Burkeman warns against seeking perfection, and against overwhelming yourself with an endless to-do list with no time-boxing and no preparation. Instead, reward yourself with ‘done’ lists and reflect on the day’s accomplishments.

I also thought hard about the app I would have wanted during my university years, those days of studying Computer Science for 12 hours straight, when I just wanted a tab in my browser that could comfort me and keep me focused.

It took 8 months to finally release an app I was proud of. In that time, I collected feedback from the few people who reviewed early drafts, and read dozens of articles about productivity, the nervous system, and ADHD.

By June 2025, the software had finally taken shape as something I could share with the world.