Sharing a side project: hourglass ⌛️
I’m excited to share a bit about a side project I’ve been working on the past few months: hourglass.
10-second version ⏳
hourglass is a simple, powerful goal system that lives on your desk and your phone. our physical tracker keeps your goal in sight and makes your progress tangible and satisfying, and our SMS bot motivates through stats, streaks, and nudges. hourglass was designed originally for side projects and fitness, but it’s helpful for whatever you just can’t find time to do.
I designed hourglass for myself originally, but after seeing friends use it and like it, I decided to make it a real product!
We’re now taking orders at www.TheHourglassStore.com . Use the discount code “FRIEND” at checkout for free shipping.
If you’re curious to hear more about how this project came to be, read on!
It started with a side project that wasn’t going anywhere 🤦♂️
I came into 2020 wanting to spend more time on side projects. I love my full-time job, but I missed the college days of tinkering on stuff in my free time.
Easier said than done! I never seemed to find the time to focus, and suddenly it was June and I had nothing to show for—just a million excuses (and an impressive amount of screen time racked up on TikTok).
Hearing my business 101 professor’s words echoing in my head — “you can’t manage what you can’t measure”—I eagerly made an excel spreadsheet to start tracking how many hours I was spending tinkering.
This will solve all my problems!!
But it turns out pulling up an “hours worked” spreadsheet at the end of each day is pretty uninspiring. I gradually filled it out less and less often, until I stopped using it altogether.
Still hoping to track my weekly side project hours, I tried a simple habit app called done app. Yet just like the spreadsheet, a few weeks later I found myself reluctantly opening “yet another app” at the end of the day.
Going analog 📝
One Sunday night in June, I decided to print off a sheet with 15 boxes. I put the sheet on my dresser and set a goal of crossing off every single box by Sunday night, one for each hour.
Surprisingly, I felt more motivated by this simple sheet than by any app or spreadsheet I had tried. That week I ended up doing 15 side project hours before I even got to the weekend.
I found this approach powerful for a few reasons:
- 👀 Top of mind: the sheet was always visible throughout the day, reminding me of my goal for the week. I started planning around the sheet versus having side project time be my last priority.
- ✔️ Deceptively satisfying to use: the act of crossing off a physical box was deceptively satisfying. And seeing the checked off boxes made me realize I was actually making progress towards my goal, even if the work itself at times felt less tangible.
- 😱 Empty boxes at the end of week: missing a streak on an app doesn’t feel that bad to me, but there was something different about seeing empty boxes remaining on Sunday night that made me never want to miss my weekly goal.
Discovering the power of hourglass ⚡
It turns out I wasn’t the only person who found this technique compelling. When I mentioned hourglass to a few friends, I was surprised to see the variety of ways they envisioned themselves using it, ranging from practicing an instrument to volunteering.
Inspired, I “designed” an hour tracker in Pages, came up with the name “hourglass”, printed and laminated copies at FedEx, and shipped them out to friends.
And that was the start of hourglass!
Going from a few boxes “designed” in Pages to a product 👨💻
After seeing hourglass resonate with friends, I worked on an updated design (in Illustrator this time, not Pages), built out an SMS bot, and invested in a high-quality printer and laminator. From there, I opened up a beta that has grown to over 75 participants!
Today, folks are using hourglass for a wide range of things: learning violin, studying for tests, tracking workouts, searching for a job, starting a company, volunteering, and more. We even have someone using hourglass to build cabinets!
Wait—so what exactly is hourglass? ✋
The hourglass product has two parts:
- 📝 A laminated sheet with boxes you cross off for every hour you work on a side project.
- 🤖 An SMS bot—temporarily named “hourglass bot”—that provides stats, streaks, and nudges in the background.
Each week, you follow three simple steps:
- 🤔 Set a goal: decide how many hours you want to work, and set up the corresponding Hourglass table (5, 10, 15, or 20 hours) in your workspace.
- ✔️ Focus: work on whatever you’re using hourglass for throughout the week. Put an “X” in each box every time you complete an hour of work.
- 🎯 Hit your goal: make sure all boxes are crossed by the end of your work…or else!
Meanwhile, hourglass bot checks in Sundays and Thursdays to help you stay on track!
One last thing to know—based on user feedback, we recently split hourglass into two distinct products:
- ⏳ hourglass focus: create time to work on the thing you can’t find enough time for. Every box = 1 hour.
- 🏋️♀️ hourglass fit: hit your fitness goals every week. Every box = 1 workout/meditation/etc.
Try hourglass out! 🎯
That brings us to today. Now that I’ve turned my living room into a lamination and shipping center (sorry roommate!), I’m ready to ship hourglass out to folks:
- Want to try hourglass out? Check out laminated kits and SMS bot at www.TheHourglassStore.com.
- Don’t want one yourself? You could also gift hourglass to that friend who’s working on a side project or has a fitness new years resolution.
- Think you want one but not sure? Email me at riley[at]TheHourglassStore.com and I’ll shoot you the PDF so you can print and try it for free before deciding whether to purchase an hourglass kit.
Use the discount code “FRIEND” at checkout for free shipping!
Special thanks! 🙏
So many people helped on hourglass over the past few months.
To name just some of them— Andrew Zimmermann, Ayushi Sinha, Branick Weix, Charles Kantz, Claudio Quintana, Danny Keller, David Ongchoco, Eddy Lee, Grace Stayner, Hriday Kemburu, Isabella Palde, John West, Kate Park, Kelsey Bishop, Max Friedman, Rachel Yee, Sweyn Venderbush, Zach Gospe, Zach Liu, Zack Chauvin, and our 75 beta testers!
-Riley 👨💻 & hourglass bot 🤖
