Still Air

A quieter pomodoro timer

Twenty-five minutes of work, five minutes away. A soft bell at each turn instead of an alarm, and nothing on screen competing for the attention you are trying to protect.

25 minutes focus · 5 minutes rest
Start a focus session

What it is

The pomodoro technique breaks work into fixed stretches separated by real breaks. The specific length matters less than the two things it gives you: a visible finish line, and permission to stop.

Why it works

Most of the difficulty in hard work is starting. Twenty-five minutes is small enough to agree to when the whole task is not — and once you have begun, continuing is rarely the problem. The break is not a reward, it is the part that keeps the next session from being worse than the last.

How this one is different

Between sessions

A break spent on the same screen is not much of a break. If you want something to do with the five minutes, a minute of coherent breathing fits neatly, and box breathing is good before a session you are avoiding.