A time blocking app that keeps your day honest
today is a calm time blocking app for knowledge workers. Sketch your day in blocks, log focus sessions, and close the loop each evening.
What is time blocking and why does it work?
Time blocking is the practice of assigning specific tasks to dedicated time slots rather than working from a flat to-do list. Instead of asking 'what should I do next?' you ask 'what was I supposed to be doing right now?' That shift eliminates the low-grade decision fatigue that fragments most workdays. Research from Cal Newport and others consistently shows that pre-committed time blocks increase the likelihood of finishing deep work because you've removed the moment-to-moment negotiation with yourself. today implements this with a minimal block editor: name the block, set its window, and work. No sub-tasks, no tags, no nested projects — just named segments of time.
How today's time blocks connect to focus sessions
Most time blocking apps stop at the calendar layer. today goes one step further: every block can spawn a focus session. When you're inside a block, you tap to start a session, log what you actually worked on, and mark whether it connected to your daily outcome. This creates a feedback loop that a static calendar never provides. At the end of the day, the numbers surface automatically — planned minutes versus completed minutes, and a ratio that tells you how well your blocks matched your actual capacity. Over time that ratio becomes a calibration tool, helping you plan more realistic days rather than aspirational ones that collapse by 11 a.m.
Quiet by design: no dashboards, no feeds
Most productivity apps compete for your attention inside the tool. today takes the opposite stance. There's no feed of activity, no gamified streak counter on the home screen, no notification badge telling you to 'plan your day.' The interface opens to your current day — the blocks, the sessions, the one outcome — and nothing else. This isn't minimalism as aesthetic. It's a structural choice: the app should take as little attention as possible so you can give that attention to the work itself. The design constraint forces every feature to justify its cognitive overhead before it gets added to the screen.
Who uses time blocking apps effectively?
Time blocking works best for knowledge workers whose days lack external structure: software engineers choosing between features, writers managing creative and administrative work, founders splitting time across strategy and execution. It's less useful for roles with fully scheduled days — if every hour is already a meeting, blocking doesn't add information. The sweet spot is 4–7 hours of self-directed work per day where block planning can create shape around otherwise formless time. today is built for exactly that person: someone who has autonomy over their hours but struggles to use that autonomy without a scaffold to hang decisions on.
Frequently asked questions
Related
- FeatureFocus Session Tracker — todaytoday's focus session tracker logs what you work on, how long you focus, and whether it connects to your daily outcome. Honest data, no judgment.
- FeatureDaily Commitment Tracker — todaytoday's commitment tracker lets you carry a few recurring promises through your day. Keep them, break them honestly, and watch your follow-through rate over time.
- FeatureDaily Planner App — todaytoday is a daily planner app for knowledge workers. Plan time blocks, track focus, keep commitments, and reflect — in one quiet place.
- FeatureCalendar Sync — todaytoday syncs Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook events into your daily planning view. Plan your self-directed time around your actual meeting schedule.