Concentration: a work session without distractions

A timer answers "how much is left". This solves two other problems: starting, and not falling off. Starting is helped by a named step and a short sprint — "just ten minutes" gets through where "sit down and do the report" does not. Staying is helped by the distraction list: a written-down thought stops demanding attention instead of pulling you into the next tab. If you actually want a timer — with several countdowns, interval programmes and a window on top of other apps — we have a separate online timer.

You can: press "Start" a second time and the session runs unnamed. But that one line is not a formality. Until the step is named, your brain re-decides what to work on every minute, and it is on that decision that the drift into the browser happens. A named step removes the choice; all that is left is doing it.

Start smaller than feels right. The classic 25 minutes was not designed around trouble starting: when the start is the problem, 10–15 minutes goes down easier, and three short sprints add up to the same 30–45 minutes of real work. Save the 45-minute runs for when you are already inside the task.

They live until the end of the session and appear on the break. Whatever you tick becomes the next session's name; the rest is dropped. That is deliberate: most of what distracts us mid-task no longer matters twenty minutes later, and turning this list into a permanent to-do list only drags the clutter along.

Yes. "Done early" records exactly the time you worked and takes you to the break — a task finished in seven minutes instead of fifteen is a success, not a failure. "Abandon", on the other hand, records nothing: that is opting out of the session.

The techniques come straight from there: lowering the barrier with a short interval, keeping the task externalised in front of you, writing a distraction down instead of chasing it, and a break with a concrete action instead of free scrolling. It is not treatment and not a substitute for professional help — it is a way to get one piece of work finished. If the difficulty is elsewhere, in the sense of time itself, see our time blindness helper.

The log and the streak live in your browser and cover the last two months. On another device or in another browser the count starts over, and clearing browser data resets the statistics.

Yes. The countdown is measured from its end moment rather than by adding up ticks, so a background tab cannot slow it down. When it finishes you get a sound, and a notification if the tab is hidden. The remaining time shows in the tab title, and the screen stays awake while a session runs.