For me the point of the timer is to snap me out of the distraction or I’ll be on Hacker News for an hour.
For me the point of the timer is to snap me out of the distraction or I’ll be on Hacker News for an hour.
Timers are such a big deal with ADHD. It's not news to anyone that people with ADHD suffer from time blindness, but even knowing that I'm constantly underestimating how much it affects me. Even if I'm not doing a scheduled task, having something that regularly beeps or vibrates to shake me out of whatever I'm focusing on so I can ask, "how am I feeling, what am I doing, when was the last time I drank water, have I eaten today, what should I be doing right now" is very helpful -- at least until the brain learns to tune out the beep and you have to find a new sound.
I highly recommend people having trouble with focusing or distracting to get a cheap wristwatch or some kind of timer and setting it to beep or vibrate every 10-30 minutes. Doesn't solve every problem, but helps a lot with staying just a bit more rooted in reality.
So, I've been going in the opposite direction, and prioritizing the things that I feel are important, including finite but not periodic windows of arbitrary entertainment, and a cutoff to my work day; I'm essentially experimenting with aspects of deep work and systems thinking. The phone stays out of sight or completely off unless I'm expecting a call, or it's scheduled downtime, and the rest of most days are spent deliberately on things I get the most value out of.
For things like laundry and basic chores, I just don't consider those distracting, and have been batching them at the beginning or between periods of focus during the day. They're not distracting because they don't necessarily take me out of any state of immersion. I'm still thinking about the code or decision or whatever, whereas an email or text message or internet argument fully put my brain resources somewhere else.
Any videos I need are mostly downloaded for offline viewing beforehand, articles saved to pocket, but realistically I never read them anymore, and most break time during focus periods is an actual book or silence, not for the purpose of productivity, but because I want to read books and the way I've been living hasn't enabled me to have the space to focus on them. One chapter at a time. Any random ideas or searches I try to just note for later. Sometimes I revisit them, sometimes not, it usually doesn't matter.
It's also not worthwhile in my opinion to measure short term progress, so in terms of how these systems work for me, I'll see where I am in a few months or years, assuming the specifics will change gradually.
I also have things during the 20 mins to help me stretch it out - such as sitting outside while working (or have window wide open) or TV and music on for the background noise.
For the 10 mins of distractions, definitely have to be strict about it. Can't stretch that. It goes by very fast. Can't go out to do errands just because I feel like it.
As an aside note, doing 10 mins of house chores multiple times a day really adds up. Lot of satisfaction, and more importantly focus gained!, when the house is tidy.
Agreed. Most chores only take 10 mins if you're going for it.
When I've tried Pomodoros / structured time management, the task paralysis has always shifted to encompass the techniques themselves, and I tend to easily tune out alarms.
I think it ultimately comes down to having that space for experimentation and failure