The Build Lab · Case study · Routines
A visual timer for an ADHD-friendly morning: one step at a time, gentle nudges, no guilt.
A freelance VA with ADHD loses the first hour of the day to getting started.
A timed morning routine with a visual countdown for each step, gentle nudges when time runs over, a streak that forgives missed days and a first work task pulled in from her calendar.
A morning of drifting between tabs before the first real task.
Business owners and freelancers, especially ADHD-leaning ones, who lose the start of the day to getting started.
A calmer, more predictable start to the day and the first task started earlier, without relying on willpower.
Demo video
Live demo
Everything below works. The business and data are made up; the real version is built around your business and your tools.
Step 3 of 6
Coffee and meds
6:18
of 10 min · ends 8:44
Meds with the first sip.
Routine complete · 1h 02m
Google Calendar
Inbox for Harlow & Co
You're ready 4 minutes early. Start whenever it feels right.
I built this with Claude as a single page.
The real version keeps the routine in Notion, so changing a step or its length is just editing a row. Each morning it reads the first work event from Google Calendar and works backwards, so the routine knows how much breathing room there is. When a step runs over it suggests trimming a flexible step later on, rather than sounding an alarm.
The streak counts mornings out of the last fourteen instead of an unbroken run, so one rough morning never wipes out the rest. Sleep and step counts come from Apple Health.
Here it runs on sample data for a made-up freelance VA, with a speed-up so a morning takes minutes, not hours.
Questions
No. It is a routine and focus tool, not medical advice or a treatment, and it does not diagnose anything. Many people with ADHD find visual timers and one-step-at-a-time routines helpful for getting started, which is why it is designed that way, but it is no substitute for support from a GP or a specialist. If you are struggling with focus, sleep or mood, please speak to a health professional. Think of the timer as a practical aid for the start of the working day, nothing more.
A visual timer shows time passing as a shape that shrinks, such as a coloured disc or bar, rather than just numbers. Many people, including a lot of people with ADHD, find it easier to feel how much time is left when they can see it. Showing only the current step also removes the pull of everything else on the list. Physical versions like the Time Timer have been around for years, and apps such as Tiimo and Structured offer visual planning on your phone. This demo applies the same idea to a working morning.
Keep it short, specific and forgiving. Break the morning into five to eight small steps, give each a realistic time, and write them as actions, like "fill water bottle" rather than "get ready". Put the steps somewhere you will see them without opening anything, and end the routine with one clear first work task so you do not drift. Expect some days to go sideways, and design for restarting rather than perfection. A timer app, a Notion page or a sticky note can all work. The structure matters more than the tool.
Yes. Claude can build a simple timer app from a plain description, as a single web page you open on your phone or desktop. Describe your steps, how long each should take, what should happen when one runs over and how you want it to look, and ask Claude to make it as an artifact you can use straight away. Connecting it to Google Calendar or Notion to pull in your first task is a bigger step, usually needing a connector or a small automation, so start with the timer alone and see if you actually use it.
A basic version can cost nothing beyond the Claude plan you may already have. Claude Pro is around £20 a month, and a simple timer page can be built in a single session. Ready-made apps like Tiimo or Structured are worth trying first, since they may already fit and some have free tiers. A custom build makes sense when you want your exact steps, wording and calendar link in one place. Pulling in live calendar data or saving streaks across devices adds setup time, usually a few days at most.
Nothing dramatic. The streak is forgiving, so a missed morning does not wipe out your progress, and the routine simply starts again the next day. If a step runs over, you get a gentle nudge rather than an alarm, and the rest of the routine adjusts to the time you have left. That design is deliberate: routines that punish slip-ups tend to get abandoned. If you build your own, avoid red warnings and reset counters, and aim for something you would still open after a bad week.
It should be, and you control that. A routine tool only needs to read your first task of the day, so give it read-only access to one calendar rather than your whole account. If you connect Apple Health or anything health-related, treat it as sensitive: under UK GDPR, health data is a special category and needs extra care. The simplest private option is a routine that stores everything on your own device and connects to nothing. You can add connections later if they genuinely help.
