How to use the online timer
The point of setting your own intervals is that the standard ones were never measured against your work. Some tasks fall apart after fifteen minutes and some need forty before anything useful appears; a working day full of meetings suits short blocks, and a quiet Sunday morning suits long ones. The structure is what helps, not any particular pair of numbers.
Choose the work length first and set the break at roughly a fifth of it, then leave both alone for a week before adjusting. Changing the figures every session makes it impossible to tell whether anything improved. The count runs inside this browser tab, so keep the page open for the whole cycle — a closed tab takes the whole sequence with it.
Keep a rough note of which lengths produced good work and which produced fidgeting. Most people settle somewhere between twenty and fifty minutes, with the break mattering more than the work period, and many find the right figure changes by task rather than by person. The aim is a block you will actually start, not the longest one you can theoretically endure.
Common questions
How do I choose my own intervals?
Pick the work length first and set the break at roughly a fifth of it, then leave both alone for a week. Changing the numbers every session makes it impossible to tell whether anything improved.
Is there a length most people settle on?
Most land somewhere between twenty and fifty minutes, and many find it changes by task rather than by person. The aim is a block you will actually start, not the longest one you can endure.
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