Hyperfocus is a free, goals-first planner for macOS. It helps you choose the few outcomes that matter most, plan weeks and days around them, and make consistent progress by doing focused work
It feels so good to be back on Product Hunt after almost 10 years!
Today Iโm launching Hyperfocus โ a free, goals-first planner for Mac.
Iโve spent the last several years coaching focus to product people in tech, and Iโve always felt that task managers got productivity wrong.
Why? First, they're really good at capturing and organizing tasks, but they start from an inbox โ teaching you to react instead of deciding what actually matters. Second, most planners donโt really have an opinion on how you should work, so many people end up with a long list of todos that makes them feel busy without making them productive.
Hyperfocus takes a different approach. First, it starts from goals โ you decide what matters most in the next few months, then plan your weeks and days around them.
Second, itโs built on a simple belief: focusing on a few clear goals is better than checking off a long list of todos. So as you write, it gives you feedback on your goals and plans, and then helps to make them clear and realistic.ย
So whatโs inside?
One workspace that connects long-term goals to weeks and days
Hyperfocus is still early, and any feedback would be really helpful! If the problem and the promise resonate โ Iโd love for you to try Hyperfocus and tell me what you think. Does it fit into your workflow? What is missing? How does it make you feel?
@yashekbote thank you so much, it means a lot! on one hand i felt that there were already so many amazing todos on the market (shoutout to Things3!), that i had nothing to add. on the other hand โ for the last few years i always tried to work backwards โ starting from a goal, and then figuring out what i should do to achieve it. and it felt to me like a superior approach, and i was really confused why there was no tool on the market that worked that way without being over-complicated.
@jacqueline_v_twillieย same! making something like planning, prioritization, and focus a habit gives just enough structure to feel confident for the rest of the day
@yelyzaveta_kibetsย yesss! we actually have real-time feedback on your plans, catching overplanning, unclear goals, and missing breakdowns. Think like Grammarly, but for goals and plans. And if you need help fixing any of those โ AI skills guide you step by step to make goals realistic and clear.
@stepcha_cherkasov thank you so much! Yep, I took a lot of inspiration from Notion in how you type/interact with tasks. I really wanted to make planning frictionless, so it does not feel like work about work. You just simply type whatever you want to achieve without navigating between different UIs, press tab when you want to make subtasks, and that's it.
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Maker
@stepcha_cherkasovย Yep, that was what I really liked about the app when Dmitri showed it to me! I just loved how plain and simple it is.
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I like the approach - very similar that I use in my goals setup to d2d planning, but here it is implemented in a specific tool that guide you over all the process and control.
@albertyanovย yep, what i learned is that having a structure and ritual actually helps a lot to stay focused! everyone knows that you need to plan your work, but it's pretty easy to get overwhelmed with day-to-day stuff and constantly postpone it for later
Congrats on the launch! This is one of those problems Iโve been trying to solve for years. Tried everything from Todoist/Things 3 to Sunsama and Claude/ChatGPT.
Been using Hyperfocus for a bit now and it looks really promising so far!
@samarsky thanks a lot! that was exactly my path โ I tried almost everything on the market and either tools were too complicated and felt like work about work, or they just lacked the goals-first framing! would love to know what you think
Congrats @dmtsepelev ! the Agent is something that I missed in the previous version so now I am excited to get to my hyperfocus track - I need this much as never before
@artem_cherepanov thanks a lot for your support! yep, the app has changed a lot since you last tried it; would love to know what you think about the new release!
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Maker
@artem_cherepanovย yeah, and the biggest difference is โ instead of just doing the work for you, the agent acts like a coach that helps you plan, prioritize, and break things down, so you always stay in control instead of producing some slop that you donโt trust. we believe that deciding what matters is actually the most important thing that a human can do, and we donโt want to fully delegate it to the AI.
Replies
Hyperfocus
Hey everyone, Dmitri is here!
It feels so good to be back on Product Hunt after almost 10 years!
Today Iโm launching Hyperfocus โ a free, goals-first planner for Mac.
Iโve spent the last several years coaching focus to product people in tech, and Iโve always felt that task managers got productivity wrong.
Why? First, they're really good at capturing and organizing tasks, but they start from an inbox โ teaching you to react instead of deciding what actually matters. Second, most planners donโt really have an opinion on how you should work, so many people end up with a long list of todos that makes them feel busy without making them productive.
Hyperfocus takes a different approach. First, it starts from goals โ you decide what matters most in the next few months, then plan your weeks and days around them.
Second, itโs built on a simple belief: focusing on a few clear goals is better than checking off a long list of todos. So as you write, it gives you feedback on your goals and plans, and then helps to make them clear and realistic.ย
So whatโs inside?
One workspace that connects long-term goals to weeks and days
Grammarly-like feedback on your goals and plans
AI for planning, prioritization, and goal setting
Long-term, weekly, and daily planning rituals
Focus sessions
Local first, small, fast.
The app is free. Download it for Mac: https://hyperfocus.in
Hyperfocus is still early, and any feedback would be really helpful! If the problem and the promise resonate โ Iโd love for you to try Hyperfocus and tell me what you think. Does it fit into your workflow? What is missing? How does it make you feel?
That feedback would help a lot! Let's focus ๐
Trace
@dmtsepelevย Congrats on the launch. I just gave it a try and look forward to using it!!! ๐
Hyperfocus
@stepcha_cherkasovย thank you so much for your support! if you give it a try โ let me know what you think!
@stepcha_cherkasovย many thanks! it means soo much)
@dmtsepelevย Nice launch congrats๐
Hyperfocus
@priya_kushwaha1ย thank you!
@dmtsepelevย @priya_kushwaha1ย Really appreciate your support
@dmtsepelevย Amazing Launch Dmitrii!
What made you pick "goals-first" as the wedge, instead of just building a better todo list?
Hyperfocus
@yashekbote thank you so much, it means a lot! on one hand i felt that there were already so many amazing todos on the market (shoutout to Things3!), that i had nothing to add. on the other hand โ for the last few years i always tried to work backwards โ starting from a goal, and then figuring out what i should do to achieve it. and it felt to me like a superior approach, and i was really confused why there was no tool on the market that worked that way without being over-complicated.
@dmtsepelevย @yashekboteย Thanks for your support!
@dmtsepelevย Love this idea, I'm a huge fan of healthy habit loops.
Hyperfocus
@jacqueline_v_twillieย same! making something like planning, prioritization, and focus a habit gives just enough structure to feel confident for the rest of the day
ย @jacqueline_v_twillieย me too! many thanks for your support!
@dmtsepelevย awesome! Congrats :) Iโll try it out and let you know.
Flowmapp
Dima, congrats on the launch! Pretty cool to see that someone is optimizing for outcomes instead of just completing more tasks! Love the idea
Trace
@mituhinย Agreed!
Hyperfocus
@mituhin thanks Paul, really appreciate! It was actually super confusing to me why almost nobody tried it in the personal productivity space before!
@mituhinย Thank you so much!
Softorino ๐ป๐ฒ
My week usually fills with tasks that have nothing to do with the goal I wrote down. Does it push back when the day drifts off the goal?
Hyperfocus
@yelyzaveta_kibetsย yesss! we actually have real-time feedback on your plans, catching overplanning, unclear goals, and missing breakdowns. Think like Grammarly, but for goals and plans. And if you need help fixing any of those โ AI skills guide you step by step to make goals realistic and clear.
Softorino ๐ป๐ฒ
@dmtsepelevย Real-time flags on overplanning is the part I'd use. That's my exact failure mode most weeks.
Hyperfocus
@yelyzaveta_kibets I can definitely relate to that! if you give it a try โ let me know what you think
@yelyzaveta_kibetsย thanks for your support! hope Dmitrii answered your question)
Softorino ๐ป๐ฒ
@senkinaย He did, twice actually. The overplanning flag is the part I want to try, so I will report back once I have run a week on it.
Trace
Congrats on the launch! Remind me a lot of Notion visually. Is there a reason why did you go with pages-like design instead of classic tasks lists?
Hyperfocus
@stepcha_cherkasov thank you so much! Yep, I took a lot of inspiration from Notion in how you type/interact with tasks. I really wanted to make planning frictionless, so it does not feel like work about work. You just simply type whatever you want to achieve without navigating between different UIs, press tab when you want to make subtasks, and that's it.
@stepcha_cherkasovย Yep, that was what I really liked about the app when Dmitri showed it to me! I just loved how plain and simple it is.
I like the approach - very similar that I use in my goals setup to d2d planning, but here it is implemented in a specific tool that guide you over all the process and control.
Hyperfocus
@albertyanovย yep, what i learned is that having a structure and ritual actually helps a lot to stay focused! everyone knows that you need to plan your work, but it's pretty easy to get overwhelmed with day-to-day stuff and constantly postpone it for later
@albertyanovย soo true! Many thanks to your vote
Letterly
Congrats on the launch! This is one of those problems Iโve been trying to solve for years. Tried everything from Todoist/Things 3 to Sunsama and Claude/ChatGPT.
Been using Hyperfocus for a bit now and it looks really promising so far!
Hyperfocus
@samarsky thanks a lot! that was exactly my path โ I tried almost everything on the market and either tools were too complicated and felt like work about work, or they just lacked the goals-first framing! would love to know what you think
@samarskyย Can relate! Appreciate your support!
Clustr
Big congrats on the launch!
Hyperfocus
@realvladgolubย thanks, really appreciate!
@realvladgolubย thank you a lot!
Congrats @dmtsepelev ! the Agent is something that I missed in the previous version so now I am excited to get to my hyperfocus track - I need this much as never before
Hyperfocus
@artem_cherepanov thanks a lot for your support! yep, the app has changed a lot since you last tried it; would love to know what you think about the new release!
@artem_cherepanovย yeah, and the biggest difference is โ instead of just doing the work for you, the agent acts like a coach that helps you plan, prioritize, and break things down, so you always stay in control instead of producing some slop that you donโt trust. we believe that deciding what matters is actually the most important thing that a human can do, and we donโt want to fully delegate it to the AI.
Trace
Hyperfocus
@timcha_cherkasov thank you for your support, it means a lot!
@timcha_cherkasovย Thank you sooo much! It means a lot.
Love it. One function that would be nice is an export (or tell me where you store the data on my Mac :)) so I can sync my daily tasks to Todoist.
Hyperfocus
@jay_janarthanan1ย thanks a lot, really appreciate it! mcp is definitely on my roadmap to create / fetch tasks from other apps;
for now everything is stored in an SQLite database: ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.hyperfocus.desktop/
i think you can pretty easily ask AI to write a script that will export tasks from the DB once in a while (or on a schedule you want)
@jay_janarthanan1ย appreciate your support! Do u active user of Todoist?