Timeguards Story

A little about me

Hey 👋 I’m Fred Lopez, the solo developer behind TimeGuard. I didn’t set out to build a productivity tool—but I ended up here through a very personal journey.

As long as I've been able to reason, I've never had the best ability to focus on work. And when I was introduced to my first computer at about the age of 7 I was enamored. That's when my love and hate relationship with technology began.

How it began

In my younger years I was never able to truly get things done. I wasn't dumb by any means but I had no interest in schooling and my attention was easily diverted by the next flashy thing. And as it turns out the next flashy thing was almost always in front of my computer screen. Be it video games, movies, programming. As time kept passing what had appeared to my family & friends a gifted child in the making ultimately just became an internet addict. I couldn't keep my grades up, I could never keep track of my responsibilities, I rarely recall periods where I didn't struggle with sleep because I wasn't able to put my phone down on those late nights. My life was suffering on every front: physically, emotionally and socially because of this big enemy.

Where we are today

Eventually I realized the fight that I had been cursed with back in 2017 (The earliest journal entries I can find about this struggle). Ever since I have had an active battle with myself and my internet addiction. Since I began this journey I have had many failures. Too many to count, I spent many nights thinking that I would never regain control of myself. Accepting that I would never be free to live a life as I wanted to live it and not as my internet addiction wanted me to live it. Fast forward to 2025, many years later - where finally, after almost a decade of this war I can say I've won a battle. This is where Timeguard was born.

From many failed lessons and app blockers and little gimmicks to try to get myself to get off my phone, I truthfully learned what the answer was to my problems. It was my lack of awareness. It didn't matter how much I wanted to get myself off the apps and how much willpower I used to free myself from them. I always kept coming back. I have learned many lessons throughout the way and many pillars that have helped shape the person that I am today. For now I just want to share this one.

"What gets measured, gets managed." - Peter Drucker

Awareness

I was always on autopilot. Even though I knew I had things to do I still wasted hours on end on youtube. With the stress in the back of my mind and that tightening feeling in my chest. It was like my subconscious speaking to me but I didn't listen, my conscious mind didn't want to. A few months back after having switched myself over to a dumb phone for a month and felt like I had finally freed myself from distractions I wanted to return myself to using my computer healthily. I began creating a notion page where I had automated buttons that would notate what I was doing on my computer. Like a ticketing system almost. I soon came across a problem though. Old habits kicked!

Putting it together

Quickly without being too aware I found myself opening my browser and began typing reddit.com. I'd catch myself early on, but I already knew the pattern. I already knew the direction I was headed in. I ignored the ticketing system, or forgot about it. Quite frankly I'm not too sure. But the option with the ticketing system like many other productivity apps is that they are optional. My brain is lazy, it doesn't like optional. It will just browse youtube instead.

Given my software development background I decided to make a script for myself. And after a few days of using it I realized the immense potential this idea had. Not only to help me, but to help others like me. I've been and am actively developing Timeguard with a passion I've never seen in myself. My heart burns and it feels like I'm at the deciding moment in this lifelong war. I’ve poured more passion into TimeGuard than anything I’ve ever worked on. This is personal—and I hope it helps you as much as it’s helped me.

—Fred Lopez