Focus Trainer App: Focus Timer & Self-Reflection
Set a Focus Timer
Decide for how long you want to focus – 25 minutes if you follow the popular Pomodoro technique – and start the focus timer. Focus on your task until the time runs out. Resist all distractions. Reset the timer if you let yourself get distracted.
Improve Focus Step by Step
Focusing is a skill that needs to be trained. Just like with other skills, start small and work yourself up. Focus Trainer will gradually increase the length of your focus sessions. So you can easily grow your attention span from that of a goldfish to that of a zen monk.
Dump Distractions
Sometimes the inevitable distraction will pop up. A tangent thought, a shoutout from a coworker, or just a random idea. Before you let yourself get lead away from your focus, braindump it directly in the app. Write it down. Get back to your focus topic before you break your session.
Once your focus session is complete, you can pick it back up. Follow that thought, call back that coworker, explore that idea.
Reflect on Interruptions
Did you complete your focus session? Great! Not? Learn from it! Quickly note what caused you to break concentration.
Learn & Improve
Every once in a while, take a look at your collected reflections in the app. Focus Trainer will show you the most common reasons for interruptions. Tackle those first.
Focus Timers: Just one class of time management tools
Attention management with focus timers is just one area of time management. Once you have mastered focusing you can look to improve other areas of productivity.
Check out our time management app Focality to improve your goal setting and planning. It combines deep planning, self-reflection, and data-driven insights in one single product. Take control of your life and constantly improve yourself.
The Pomodoro Technique
The story of focus timers goes back to Francesco Cirillo. Back in the 1980s, he used a simple kitchen timer to help him focus. The timer had the shape of a tomato, so he named his newfound method after the Italian name for tomatoes: The Pomodoro Technique.
Unlike with Focus Trainer, the original Pomodoro Technique prescribes exact time intervals. You focus on a task for 25 minutes, then you take a 5-minute break. Repeat. After four of these cycles, you take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes.
This simple technique has proven remarkably effective and spawned a whole class of apps - if you landed on this page by searching, you probably also found at least 100 Pomodoro apps. ;)
Focus Trainer is the only app that helps you to constantly improve your attention span. Its focus timer is not set to a static interval but gradually adapts to your ever-improving concentration skills. It also gives you the ability to reflect on your setbacks and learn from them.