Archive for ‘Timers’ Category

Posted on: April 28th, 2025 by Julie Bestry | 8 Comments

In the past three weeks, we’ve explored using timers to enhance focus, reduce hyper-focus, and get stuff done.

After establishing why (and in what situations) timers can boost productivity, we identified the general characteristics of a good timer and the customizable aspects supporting individuals in their unique tasks and projects

Last week, we examined a wide variety of tangible timers, particularly those (like Time Timer and the Focus Timer® Visual Timer) that allow users to both see the passage of time (particularly with the benefit of showing analog time), and feel like they have some tactile control over manipulating time.

While children, people with ADHD and executive function disorders, and anyone who has difficulty identifying and recognizing time as it passes can benefit from those tangible timers, not everyone needs a physical timer, and while we can all benefit from seeing analog time, it’s not always essential for all.

If what you most need is to have a trusted alert so that you do not overrun your allotted time, digital timers will suffice, but they range from ultra-basic to fancy-schmancy.

DIGITAL TIMERS YOU ALREADY OWN

In the second post in this series, we looked at a long sequence of features that make a good timer, both for the project and the user. You may wish to review those concepts, but in general, you want a timer that is:

  • simple to use
  • does more than what you’re already able to do with your resources
  • integrates, if applicable, with the tools you already have
  • process-agnostic, so that you don’t have to use only fixed-durations that aren’t useful for your needs (in case you prefer the 52/17 technique to a standard 25/5 Pomodoro and break, for example)
  • aesthetically pleasing, visually (if that matters to you)
  • customizable for features such as volume and type of audio alert
  • frictionless, because every obstacle to using a timer is an obstacle to your focus

Kitchens stoves have built-in timers, but if you’re in your back yard doing some weeding, at the coffee shop finishing up a presentation, conducting a meeting at the office (or online), taking a nap in your dorm room (or the comfy chairs at the library), or doing anything anyplace that is not your kitchen, you’ll need to possess some kind of timer more sophisticated than asking a patient friend to count one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi for minutes or hours on end and then shouting your name!

Your Built-In Device Timer

The fastest and simplest timer method is to use the one built into your phone. However, I’ve been surprised by how many people don’t know how to use their phone timers or at least all of the features available.

On iOS devices like iPhones or iPads, just open the Clock app on your home screen.

  • Tap Timers, generally on the bottom of the Clock app interface.
  • Hit the + sign to add a new timer.
  • Set the duration by turning the number dials: a 25-minute Pomodoro to get work done, 14 minutes to cook your salmon, 38 minutes until you should check your laundry. Adjust the hours, minutes, and seconds as needed.
  • Add a label if you tend to forget what the timer was for. This is helpful if you’re setting multiple timers to get all of the items you’re cooking for Thanksgiving dinner on the table simultaneously; one timer tells you when to baste the turkey, another to reheat the potatoes, and so on. If you’re apt to hyper-focus, labeling the timer PICK UP CHILDREN!!! may give you the boost you need not to snooze or ignore your timer.
  • Add a song or sound to play when your time is up if pre-set alerts are too jangly for you. You might want a lilting tone to lift you gently out of hyper-focus or an energetic song to help you transition from your break to the next task.
  • Tap Start. The timer will begin counting down. You can now look away and ignore it.
  • If you need to pause the timer, because of an interruption, hit the pause icon (universally known among seniors as “the eleven”) and resume (by hitting the “play” triangle) when you’re ready. 

When your time is up, the phone will send you a notification, even if you’re in another app. 

You may notice that you have other timers in a “Recent” list. If you tend to use an official 25-minute Pomodoro and 5-minute break often, go ahead and create labels for them and keep them in your list; add and label any other frequently-used timers to save you time and effort the next time  you want to quickly assign yourself a stop time. 

If you want to quickly set a timer on your iPhone and you don’t mind setting it for multiples of 5-minute increments, head to the Control Center:

Alternatively, you can shout, “Hey, Siri, set a timer for 25 minutes” across the office to set a Pomodoro without the temptations inherent in holding a phone in your hand.

Your digital assistant is particularly useful in the kitchen if your hands are wet or you want to avoid touching your phone while cooking. If what’s in the oven isn’t quite ready, asking Siri to set the timer means I don’t have to hover or worry that if I turn to wash some dishes, I could completely forget that three minutes have passed.

Android devices operate much the same way, via the Clock app and using the Timer option. Android users generally set timer durations from a number pad (akin to making a call or using the calculator) rather than a dial, but set customized labels and adjust sounds as with iOS.

Android has the same pause/resume/cancel functions and you can keep multiple timers running concurrently

You can use your Google Assistant by saying, “Hey Google, set a timer for 15 minutes.” Just be sure to enunciate a little better than than this internet sensation.

The main advantage of using your built-in device timer is that it’s easy-peasy lemon squeezy. Take ten seconds to set a timer by tapping or talking and you’re ready to get started. The obstacles are few and the countdown is simple.

The drawback of using your phone or device as a timer is that it presents an opportunity for distraction when you are setting the timers and again when you reach for the phone to stop the timer alert. If you experience phone addiction, you may wish to read:

DEDICATED DIGITAL TIMERS FOR FOCUS AND PRODUCTIVITY

The next step up from your kitchen or built-in phone timer is a mobile app, desktop app, or browser-based app, and there are numerous options available. Few have any great functional advantages over the others, so it’s often a matter of picking which aesthetic or bonus features you prefer. Most will be marketed as Pomodoro timers, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be limited to 25 minute increments; it’s just branding.

Browser Based Timers

If you’ve got a phone, tablet, or computer, you’ve got an internet browser. Using a web-based timer in your browser means you don’t have to download anything. It’s best for when you are having trouble focusing, want a timer, but know that searching for an app to download will keep you from getting started. Wherever you are, even on a borrowed computer or in the public library, there’s a browser timer for you.

Pomodor

Pomodor is web-based. Just bring up the website and it’s already ready for you tap the play button to start your first (of up to four) Pomodoro timers. While the default is set for 25 minutes Pomodoros with 5-minute breaks, you can can adjust multiple aspects, including:

      • work duration from 5-60 minutes
      • short break duration for 1-5 minutes
      • long break duration of 1-45 minutes (after four Pomodoro/short break cycles) 
      • how many rounds (or cycles) you want to do, from 1 to 15
      • which of eight alert noises you prefer (all sounding very “iPhone circa 2009”)

There’s also a dark mode option, which I’ve employed, below.

Pomodor is free. While you can create an account to preserve your settings or access your stats overview with charts to visualize which days of the week you were the most productive, it’s not required. 

Pomodor’s few customizations means you won’t spend a lot of time futzing with the settings and can (or at least should) get right to work.

Focus Keeper

Focus Keeper is another free and easy-to-intuit web-based timer. Create an account with your email and a password, or Google or Apple ID, and when you log in you can create pre-set timers with labels for various types of activities (reading? meditation? blog writing?) and even have a daily schedule for time-blocked work.

When you’re logged in, just select or create a timer you wish to start, click “play” and start working; you can track your focus by the day, by times of the day, and by focused task-type.

If you don’t want to log in, just start with the default settings: a 25 minute focus setting, a 5 minute break setting, a 30-minute long break between cycles of four sessions and breaks. Turn the ticking (so much ticking!) on or off, and pause if necessary, but otherwise, as you get to work, the soothing “waves” at the bottom of the screen gets higher.

Focus Keeper is available on the web, as well as in iOS and Android versions.

Pomofocus

Pomofocus is another web-based timer that lets you access basic aspects for free. Without signing in, you can set the focus, short break, and long break timers, name the focus task, and select the number of Pomodoros and breaks — which need not be strict 25-minute Pomodoros — I set this up for a 52/17 round; you can also set the number of cycles before a long break.

You can also adjust the volume of the alert and the type of alert sound.

If you create an account and log in, you can use templates, access a summary detailing the number of hours you spent focused, the number of days you used Pomofocus, and how many days of a streak you amassed. (If you’re competitive, you can see how you rank against other Pomofocus users.)

Pomofocus is free, but the ad-free Premium plan gives you lets you add more projects and templates, view a yearly report, download reports, import tasks from Todoist, and connect to other apps. The Premium plan is $3/month, $18/year, or $54 for a lifetime plan.

Deep Work Depot — Want to focus on your deep work in the most bare bones way? Based on Cal Newport’s concept described in his book Deep Work, this timer emphasizes focusing without distraction on tasks that are cognitively demanding.

N/A

There are no bells, no whistles, and hardly any color or design. Set your focus and rest timer durations; turn the “Lo-Fi” music on or off.

(Lo-Fi, my aging GenX self has learned, refers to low-fidelity, a musical style that intentionally incorporates imperfections and a relaxed aesthetic. Now that I’ve experienced it with three different timers, I must admit it sounds like elevator music to me.) 

(Note: I’ve yet to figure out what Xmas mode does. The toggle turns green, but otherwise? Nada)

Similar to web-based timer apps, you may also want to explore browser-extension options, like:

  • Marinara: Pomodoro® Assistant is a Chrome extension — Marinara creates a toolbar icon for the countdown timer. You can configure preferred work session times, and it offers both short breaks for between sessions and (configurable) longer intervals between cycles. There are 20+ audio alerts, and you can add ticking sounds if that’s your jam. Track your stats and history to gauge when you have been the most productive. You can also set automatic timers. It’s free.
  • Momentum Dash is another Chrome extension — It combines a beautiful nature photo and motivational quote with a countdown timer, all on your browser’s “new tab” page. Set up your tasks, create different timer modes, add mantras, customize sounds, and show the number of days counting down to a deadline. The Plus version is $3.33/month and includes Spotify and YouTube sound integration, task app integrations, site blockers and more.

  • Otto is yet another Chrome extension. — The free “core” features include unlimited Pomodoros, the ability to block an unlimited number of distracting websites, and the option to create 3 tasks, each up to 15 minutes in length. For real power, the Pro level (at $24/year for $59 for lifetime use) offers an unlimited number of tasks up to 60 minutes in length and other up-leveled features.

Integrated Timer Apps

Some timer apps and programs can integrate with software you’re already using. Note, timers at this level are less intuitive but do more heavy lifting than basic timers. If you are already using the software platforms with which these timers integrate, that goes in the win column, but if you aren’t already dependent on the multi-featured software programs, it’s oversell.

  • FocusMode by Geekbot integrates with Slack, so whether you’re doing the corporate thing or are living the start-up dream inside your Slack channels, FocusMode can help you stay the course. Tell FocusMode what you’ll be working on and for how long; as the timer (silently) ticks down, all your notifications will be automatically switched off and Do Not Disturb will be activated. FocusMode is free.
  • Pomodoro Tracker is similar to FocusMode and is designed to help you track your Pomodoro efforts while integrating with Slack. (But I think they missed an opportunity to call it Pomodoro Slacker.) 
  • Pomello is for followers of both Pomodoro and Kanban, as it integrates with Trello. The basic version is free, while the Pro version is $20/year and offers custom sounds, the ability to export your data, and lets you view Trello checklist items as focus tasks.

Timer Apps and Programs

Session

Session for MacOS and iOS for iPhone, iPad, and AppleWatch  — For an Apple lover like myself, I’m intrigued that Session boasts so many features, even if it’s kind of kooky to spend real money on a digital timer. True, it’s not just a timer (but remember what I’ve said about not acquiring features you don’t already need!)

Session syncs across Apple devices, integrates with your calendar, lets you customize work and break timer lengths, offers a Mac menu bar app (so it floats atop other windows), and has nifty keyboard shortcuts and a notes section so you don’t have to go searching for information.

You can also see detailed analytics of your focused work efforts — and to boost that focus, the Mac version will block apps and websites. And if co-workers are the reason you can’t get work done? It integrates with Slack! Set a custom status when you start focusing so they’ll leave you alone. You can also have a visual as well as digital timer.

The free plan offers a unlimited basic Pomodoro timers, analytic data from your past two days working, and the ability to view your calendar from inside Session, but the paid versions (Pro Monthly at $4.99/month or or Pro Yearly at $39.99/year) offer all the fancy features, customizations, app and website blocking, automations, and other goodies.

After you set your focus intention and timer, Sessions gives you a meditative breathing exercise to prepare you for work. Ommmmm.

Flow

Flow is a clean, basic Mac and iOS timer. — At the free level, you get an interval-based timer with multiple duration options for your work and breaks, as well as statistics and graphs (synced to your iCloud account) to give you insight into your focus and work habits.

If you upgrade to the Pro level, Flow additionally offers a timer sync, more customizable duration and session cycle settings, the ability to customize your session title, advanced session controls, app and web blocking, Apple Calendar sync, and the ability to export your timer data, all for $1.49/month.

Forest

Forest is a fun timer for iOS and Android users, and has a Chrome extension for those seeking an in-browser option — Forest uses playful gamification, knowing your seems-like-a-pipe-dream hope of not getting distracted may need more than a buzzer to achieve success. The iOS version is $3.99; currently the Andoird version is ad-supported.

When you’re ready to focus, you “plant” a cartoon tree. As you continue working, the timer counts down and the tree on your screen grows in front of you (to the sound of calming forest audio, if you like).

If you put yourself in Deep Focus Mode but then leave the app to do something else on your phone, your tree dies. (For Millennial readers who have just been reminded of your dearly departed Tamagotchis, I’m so sorry.) 

With each focus session, you “complete” trees, and over the weeks and months using the app, you grow a forest. Yes, it’s cutesie, but Forest is not without serious analytics. Tag your focus sessions by categories, note trends, and can track when you’re most productive.

While Forest has charm, I imagine that if you’re tempted to watch your forest grow while you’re working rather than waiting until your rest break, your focus will suffer from distraction. But if you’ve got patience, you will be rewarded.

Bear Focus Timer

The Bear Focus Timer is silly. But sometimes we need something silly to keep us motivated, especially when we need longer breaks that we can take and more snacks than we have on hand. From the creator:

Tom is a friendly bear, except when you cannot concentrate. He will do his best to help you focus on something!

Just place your screen face down and focus on what you do.
A variety of white noise will help you focus more.
If you concentrate well, Tom will praise you.
You can change the session time in the settings.
You can reset the timer by pressing Tom’s belly button.

Please keep in mind that Tom can also enjoy fishing when you are focused.

Customize your focus time, short and long breaks, the number of sessions, and the audio accompaniment…and hang out with Tom, the bear.

This iOS-only app is $1.99 in the App Store.

Moosti

Moosti is a gorgeous and deceptively simple timer; it’s fully compatible with iOS, macOS, watchOS, and visionOS. In addition to the traditional timer options, it sets a whole atmosphere with beautiful visual environments and Lo-Fi soundscapes

Moosti also offers breathing exercises and guided meditations to support focused work. Moosti is free, with in-app purchases.

The app stores are full of timer apps. If there’s an app that appeals to you (and costs nothing), experiment with it for at least a week; if it doesn’t float your boat, delete it before seeking a new timer. 

Online Timers

LifeAt

My colleague Stephanie Denton has recommended LifeAt, a Pomodoro timer within an immersive experience for artificial accountability.

LifeAt blends a timer with virtual spaces, combining visual environments, ambiance, sounds, and musical integration. 

The free 7-day trial includes 1,000+ focus video and image spaces, unlimited focus sounds & ambiance, online co-working communities, widgets (including task lists, a calendar, the Pomodoro timer, breathwork exercise, and more). The Pro version provides unlimited tasks and projects, a multi-calendar and task-to-calendar integration, and a daily planner. LifeAt Pro is $16/month, though when I signed up for the free account, it offered Pro at half off.

There are beautiful video landscapes, cozy fires, animated neighborhoods and more, so you have myriad options for finding your LifeAt “space” to set up your timer and features. My personal favorite is this window because, while I like looking at nature, I don’t even want to pretend to get too close.

If creating a new environment is part of your focus routine, you might want to check out Flow and Faux (Accountability): Productivity, Focus, and Alex Trebek to see how you can incorporate timers and faux environments.

YouTube Channels with Timers

YouTube is awash with timer videos requiring no downloads or expense. (Most are designed for Pomodoros, so know that the time will not be customizable for your specific needs.)

Just use YouTube’s search bar for “focus timers” and “pomodoro” timers and you’ll get a variety of options like these, which will let you just jump in to a series of timed sessions. And yes, they all seem to be backed by Lo-Fi music. (Forewarned is forearmed, and wow, wouldn’t we be more productive if we had four arms!)

 

 

 


Believe it or not, this only touches on a small percentage of the more popular digital timers at your disposal. Next time, in the final installment of this series, we’ll finish up with hybrid timers that combine tangible, analog options with digital ones for special purposes. There will also be some special bonus material! Whoohoo!

Until then, which of these might you use or recommend to students, colleagues, or anyone else who faces focus obstacles? Would you grow a forest or press a bear’s belly button?  

Posted on: April 21st, 2025 by Julie Bestry | 10 Comments

So far in this series on using timers, we’ve focused on the “thinky” aspects.

That was wordy stuff. Today, we get to start looking at the actual timers that can work their magic in helping you maintain focus, remember to take breaks, and avoid hyper-focusing. Today’s post is what I consider a “feast your eyes” post; read it in its entirety or just scroll through until you see a timer that appeals, and then explore all the salient details. 

As we discussed previously, the timers you select should feel like they’re on your team, not like they’re monitoring you for a productivity parole board. They need to support all your functional, as well as aesthetic and emotional, needs. You don’t want — at least under most circumstances — to feel like you accidentally launched a countdown to self-destruction instead of a 25-minute Pomodoro focus session. Embrace a platform that works for you.

A timer should support your functional, as well as your aesthetic and emotional, needs. You don't want to feel like you accidentally launched a countdown to self-destruction instead of a 25-minute Pomodoro focus session. Embrace what… Share on X

Today, we’ll focus on physical (primarily analog) timers; next week, we’ll examine digital and hybrid timers. But to begin, we’ll delve into the product line that has done the most to improve the understanding of the passage of time in schools, within the ADHD community, and among anyone seeking productivity support.

DISK-Y BEHAVIOR: TIME TIMER, THE BIG KAHUNA OF PRODUCTIVITY TIMERS

If you read Paper Doll or any productivity or organizing blogs, you probably already know quite a bit about Time Timer. The basics of this beloved product invented by Jan Rogers in 1994 are told in this video.

The key is that Time Timer was the first solution to the problem of time blindness, an undeveloped sense of the passage of time. As explained in ADHD Minds Are Trapped in Now (& Other Time Management Truths) in ADDitude Magazine, those experiencing time blindness are so ensconced in the present moment, in the “now” of things, that recall of the past and anticipation (and planning for) the future are difficult. Understandably, time blindness creates trouble in estimating how long a task will take.  

My professional organizing business started in 2002, when Time Timer was still getting to be well known, so I feel as though we’ve “grown up” together. While almost every professional organizer has familiarity with Time Timer, I knew they’d made the “Big Time” when I walked into a Diabetes Sisters support group meeting. The moderator was almost giddy as she showed off the “cool timer” for making sure we’d hit all the planned activities on time.

Seeing Time

Over the years, I’ve been impressed with how this simple innovation has helped children and adults “see” the passage of time in ways they’d never been able to before.

In part, it’s because younger millennials and Gen Z have experienced digital clocks almost entirely to the exclusion of analog clocks. It’s no wonder that young people don’t know what “half past” or “a quarter ’til” mean!

Digital clocks are on their devices and computers, in their classrooms, and on electronic signs as they drive down the street. If you blink, you miss the minutes changing on a digital clock, and there’s no second hand “sweeping away” the seconds, as my kindergarten teacher explained it.

For many others, whether because of ADHD, executive function disorders, or just the complexities of living in the 21st century, they’ve never quite gotten the hang of how time “feels,” so they underestimate or overestimate how long a minute (or twenty) might take. If you don’t know how long a minute is, how can you envision how many you need for any given task?

The basic element of all of the physical Time Timers is two-fold:

  • they display time in an analog manner
  • a colored disk is set to the starting point of the timed period, and the visible area of the colored disk disappears (behind the face of the timer — it’s mechanical, not actually magic!) as time is “used up.”

It seems almost too simple, but users soon see that making time visible in this way calms the nerves and soothes the senses. Whether you’re doing a timed practice test or trying to finish a presentation for your client, you need only flick your eyes to the Time Timer to know how much time you have left.

There’s no need to calculate the math in your head as with a digital clock, and even from a distance (and even if you’re extremely nearsighted!), the flash of color slowly moving in a clockwise pattern is enough to signal if you have a lot or a little time left.

In this way, Time Timer delivers on its mission: it “fosters focus and provides clarity to individuals who struggle with visualizing time.”

Original Time Timers

The Original 8″ and Original 12″ versions with the crisp white background, black type, and red disk are for purists (and anyone who wants a variation on the old joke, “What’s black and white and re(a)d all over?”).

Both sizes are 60-minute timers, good for keeping a typical work or community meeting running without unraveling. Its operations are silent; with no ticking, the Originals are ideal for classrooms, open-plan offices, and for sound-sensitive users or spaces. The alert ding at the end of the set time is optional.

The no-nonsense style makes it appropriate for classrooms or office work, and it has both a magnetic backing and foldable feet, so you can choose the optimum display style for your needs. You’ll need two AA batteries to keep your Original Time Timers in lock-step with you, but it comes with a dry erase activity card to keep you on-task.

Teachers and homeschooling parents may want to opt for the Time Timer® Original 8” Learning Center Classroom Sets, with sets of three Original 8″ timers in either primary or secondary colors.

With all the same features as the other Originals, they add a pop of color, so if the minimalistic look and magnetic backing or table-top options appeal to you for your workplace, but you need to make your stylistic mark, this might be a good alternative. 

The colored Learning Center versions also prevent you from feeling like you’ve fallen into a creepy, crooked-clock episode of Severance.

You can also amplify the Original 8″ with a Time Timer® Original 8” Visual Scheduler. Encircling the timer is a dry-erase board where you can add calendar/daypart information or time progress details.

Actual minutes are hidden. In addition to the drawn-on markings you can add, there are clips that mark where you have reached in the time allotted.

In the reverse portion, there are pockets for holding the clips, dry erase markers and other timer accessories.

The Original Time Timers include access to the Time Timer apps, which we’ll review next time. 

Time Timer Plus

In 2013, the line expanded to include Time Timer Plus, all of which stand upon their own and have handles to make them portable — as more than one client’s child has noticed, somewhat like a purse, or as my GenX clients have said, like a little boombox.

There are two versions of the 7.09″ x 1.7″ x 5.51″ Time Timer Plus 60-minute timers, with relatively serious faces (white backing/black type/red disk) like the Originals; the bodies come in either white or charcoal. 

As with the originals, there’s no distracting ticking to interfere with focus, and there’s volume control for the alert, to assure that those who hyper-focus aren’t jarred into anxiety.

These were the first Time Timers I ever owned and used with clients. In addition to the features of the Original version, the timers in the Plus line are the only analog visual timer with a pause button (in the upper right).

The official rules of the Pomodoro Technique say that if your 25-minute Pomodoro is interrupted, you have to start counting from the beginning, but you’re a grownup and can make rules for yourself! If the interruption is worthy — your boss has a question, the school has a fire drill, etc. — hit that pause button, but do get back to what you were doing when you are able.

Over time, the company realized that different users might need different iterations. An hour is fairly long; five or ten minutes barely makes a dent. Thus, the colored part of the disk measuring just a handful of minutes would be hard to discern, especially for children or even someone learning to appreciate smaller increments of time, like while meditating or holding yoga positions. For them, 5-minute and 20-minute versions were created.

Conversely, sometimes an hour isn’t enough; if you’re taking timed practice tests or holding a multi-hour group workshop, a longer visual display of time is needed, so the Plus line added a 120-minute timer. All three additions to the Time Timer Plus family have more colorful disks.

Time Timer Mod

The Original and Plus editions always served their purposes, but (especially early on) had a decidedly academic/industrial look about them. Some people felt that it gave off either a juvenile or sterile vibe; some of my adult clients said they feared it branded them as someone who needed help with time. (But c’mon, we all need help with time.)

As I noted last week, aesthetics can matter, and while most people wouldn’t consider timers as bearing a stigma, both the Original and the Plus line are rather “in your face” about their purpose. The Time Timer Mod line was the perfect response.

These 3.47″ square timers are just two inches deep, so you can use them anywhere: at home, in an office, working from a coffee house or library, even at the beach. They are small enough to throw into a backpack or purse, and to the uninitiated, they just look like little clocks. And a Time Timer Mod only requires one AA battery.

The standard Time Timer Mod – Home Edition Timers can measure up to 60 minutes and come in six designer colors accent colors coordinating with the timer disks: Lakeday Blue, Fern Green, Dreamsicle Orange, Pale Shale Gray, Peony Pink, and Cottonball White (with a burgundy disk). (Value packs of coordinating silicone “skins” are optional.)

As some people (teenagers? college dudes? macho men in the workplace?) may want or need a timer with a harder-edged aesthetic to stay committed, Time Timer has a new Mod Home Metallic Edition in four different colors/styles that remind me of the eye shadow palettes popular in the 1980s:

(These are more sparkly in person than they appear on screen.)

And for parents of kids needing something a little more generous with time measurement, the cheery Time Timer® MOD Home Edition Rainbow Wheel colorfully communicates time segmentation to children in five minute increments.

While the Home Editions are equally useful at home or work, the 60-minute Time Timer Mod Education Editions has more specific uses. They come in charcoal with the classic, highly visible red disks and optional silicone skins. However, when Time Timer spoke with educators and therapists, they learned of needs for shorter-duration and longer-timed options, so they created 10-minute (white with a yellow disk), 30-minute (white with an orange disk), and 120-minute (white with a purple disk) versions.

Time Timer RETRO Eco Edition

For those seeking a combination of productivity and sustainability, Timer Timer developed the RETRO Eco Edition. These 7.5″ square timers are smaller than the Original line and come in two styles, Green Land and Blue Water. They take one AA battery, like the MOD line, and come only in 60-minute versions. Their key appeal is how they are manufactured.

By combining a rice husk byproduct with their plastic, they’ve eliminated any unnecessary plastic pieces, reducing the overall plastic usage these timers by nearly half compared to similar timers. Additionally, 1% of the Time Timer RETRO Eco Edition sales go to their Time Timer® Making Time for Trees Initiative, a program committed to planting more trees and offsetting Time Timer’s carbon footprint. This version also eliminates the plastic lens, making it easier to repair a disk and yield a longer product life cycle.

Time Timer BRAILLE 8”

Closing out the physical Time Timers is the newest and most intriguing, the Time Timer Braille 8″, the first tactile, high-contrast, visual timer!

This innovative, empowering design allows both users with vision impairment and fully sighted users to use the same device simultaneously to monitor time use, stay productive, and support focus without hyper-focus. It’s suitable for classroom use, students taking tests or working on their own or in groups, and adult work or household projects. Like the MOD and RETRO lines, this 8-inch square timer takes one AA battery.

This timer combines their traditional disappearing disk with a tactile-set bar and Braille writing, so that vision-impaired users can set and track time themselves, by touch. The audible alert is optional.

While this is not the only Braille timer I’ve seen, Time Timer’s version offers the advantage of the high-contrast color differences (of the disk against the white background) for low-vision and fully-sighted users with Braille for vision-impaired users, something I’ve not found in other options.

[For current prices of Time Timer, please see the individual product pages linked.]


Time Timer has other products, ones which I would identify as hybrid, offering both an analog and digital approach to timers, and we’ll examine them in the next post. 


Again, Time Timer is not the only timer manufacturere, but their wide variety of options make them the first line of productivity support for children and adults, at home, work, and play.  

If, based on what I explained in the first two parts of this series, you to believe that you, your child, or someone with whom you work might benefit from a timer that unites the features of a tangible, visual, and analog timer with an optional, gentle (but non-customizable) alert, Time Timer should be your first stop.

OTHER PHYSICAL TIMERS

Lest this post feel like a commercial for Time Timer, there are a variety of other tangible timers worth considering, especially for those individuals most needing both:

  • a timer with aesthetic appeal
  • a physical timer, something that approximates a fidget toy

but not necessarily one with a visual approach to the passage of time.

Focus Timer® Visual Timer

You may recall that last week, I noted a primary problem with using an hourglass timer: it requires the user to “gauge what those collective grains of sand mean.” With a real hourglass, you must judge the ratio of sand above to what already passed down. A modernized version eliminates that problem.

The Focus Timer® Visual Timer has an adjustable hourglass design allowing you to set customized time measurements from one to 100 minutes.

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Made of what the manufacturers call a “magic touch material,” this 3.75″ x 2″ timer has some appealing features:

  • a “soothing” chime alert with three volume settings and a mute option (I put “soothing” in quotation marks because, as the video below shows, it’s a little high-pitched for my timer tastes.)
  • ability to recharge via an included USB-C charging cable
  • 10 hours of use before requiring charging
  • 100 days of standby time
  • a visual display such that horizontal blue rings are one minute each and yellow rings are 10 minutes each

It works by turning and “twisting” your fingers along the surface, much as you can operate your phone with drags, drops, taps, and pinches. Watch this video to appreciate how it works:

 

For the right user, this might be ideal for timing quiet reading and working stints, meditating, exercising, or other “gentle” activities, but not for large group meetings.

The Focus Timer® Visual Timer comes recommended by Gretchen Rubin, Cal Newport, Dan Ariely, and others in the productivity realm. It provides a beautiful visual display, making it (fairly) easy to judge the passage of time before the alert.

Note, compared to other timers, it’s a hefty $99 at Amazon or $89 at Focus Timer

Moaas Timers

I’ve explored a number timers, and for those who don’t need a visual display of time passing but love that tactile, fidgety goodness of a timer they can hold and manipulate, Moaas has a variety of options.

The most basic are the Moaas Cube Timers, requiring two AA batteries. For about $15 at Amazon, these 2.6″ cubes come in violet, coral, mint green, white, and yellow.

Facets of the violet, white, and yellow cubes can be set for 5, 15, 30, and 60 minutes; the mint green version may be set for 1, 3, 5, and 10 minutes, while the coral’s settings are for 10, 30, 50, and 60 minutes.


To operate, just turn the timer so that the side with the number faces up and the timer starts counting immediately. 

A red light blinks while the timer is in use, which can either be comforting or annoying, depending on how blinking lights impact your focus. Adjust the alarm volume between low and high with a switch; another flicked switch turns off the timer completely.

These very basic timers will suffice for timing exercising, studying, cooking or taking a nap, but I suspect they may be a little “low-rent.” While I don’t have a Mooas cube timer, I do own a fairly ancient, battery-operated, 2.25″ Datexx Time Cube that appears to be much the same. The interior weight that identifies which timer specification has been turned upright (and similar to what Mooas uses) rattles and the whole mechanism lacks the “fun” I expected from a fiddly version.

That said, Mooas has a variety of timer upgrades that may appeal to those who want a timer that looks cute and is fun to handle. The Multi-Cube Timer Clock combines a digital clock readout with pre-set timed facets on the cube. These 2.56″ square cubes come in two versions: 

  • 5, 15, 30, and 60 minutes in white for $18.90 at Amazon
  • 1, 3, 5, and 10 minutes in mint green for about $17 at Amazon 
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While the Mooas shows them as also coming in yellow, coral, and grey, those do not seem to be sold currently.

Mooas’ Multi-Hexagon Clock Timers are cool to look at and offer similar fidget-worthy features in a hexagonal style, but Amazon has marked as a “frequently returned item,” which is somewhat concerning. As always, function should be a higher priority than aesthetics, even when aesthetic appeal is needed to encourage commitment to timer use.

Happily, there’s no such warning on the 2.24″D x 1.84″W x 2.24″H Mooas Dodecagon Time Ball Rechargeable Mini Timers, which come with eleven different pre-sets: 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 45, 60, and 90-minute timers and three colors: sand peach, blue, and white. Charge the timers with an included USB-C charger.

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There are three alarm modes: sound, vibration, and silent, and it sells for about $25 on Amazon.

I suspect that this small, fiddly timer may appeal best to teenagers and gamers.

Similarly styled cube, hexagonal, and multi-sided timers can be found all over Amazon and in Big Box stores and dollar stores. This $38 TickTime Pomorodo Cube, which is not a cube at all but a hexagon, comes in blue, black, or white; has pause and resume modes, and the adjustable sound can be silenced or replaced with only vibration.

Mechanical Timers

Finally, remember that the simpler your physical timer is — if it requires no fiddling, no batteries, and no instruction manuals — the more likely you will be to use it.

If you don’t struggle with time blindness and don’t need to see the passage of time, and if you can accept (and won’t be startled by) a ding, a mechanical timer may be your best, first, and least expensive option.

If that’s a traditional pomodoro tomato timer, so be it.

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But it just as easily may be a not-so-traditional dinosaur timer.
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As always, the best solution for any productivity strategy is the one you’ll actually use


This is just a sampling of tangible timers.

Their main advantages are that they look cool or cute, so you are more likely to remember to use them, and they satisfy a desire for a physical manipulation of time. However, the downfall of tangible timers is that they are rarely customizable beyond volume and time settings.

If you’re less concerned about being able to fiddle with your timers, and your delight is more likely to come from the ability to customize features (or just have your timer built into the devices you already use), next week’s post with digital and hybrid timers may be more to your liking.

Until then, do you have a tangible timer you love? Did one in this post tickle your fancy? Please let me know in the comments.

 
Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links, and I may get a small remuneration (at no additional cost to you) if you make a purchase after clicking through to the resulting pages. The opinions, as always, are my own. (Seriously, who else would claim them?)

Posted on: April 14th, 2025 by Julie Bestry | 8 Comments

Future, noun. That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true, and our happiness is assured.

~ Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

Bierce’s satire aside, the future is unpredictable, and no matter how speedily we attempt to get there, by the time we arrive where the future was, it has moved off again, always out of our grasp. Time is slippery that way, and the only control we have over time is how and what we choose to do with it. 

Last week, in How to Use Timers for Improved Productivity and Focus — Part 1, we looked at a variety of ways to use timers to help us be more focused and productive at home and at work, for ourselves on our own or with our work teams or families. 

Today, we’ll look at the qualities of what makes a “good” timer, in general and for you, specifically. A lot more goes into your choice than just being able to keep track of time as it keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking into the future. 

 

WHAT MAKES A GOOD TIMER?

You could use an hourglass for noting the passage of time: two (attached) transparent glass bulbs, voluminous grains of sand, and gravity. Hourglasses have existed since the 16th century BCE and offer an somewhat accurate way of time keeping, whether to decorate your mantle or play a mean game of Boggle.

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Unfortunately, an hourglass requires you to stop what you are doing, look over at it, and be able to gauge what those collective grains of sand mean.

It’s not very helpful for those who hyper-focus (as they’d never remember to look at the hourglass in the first place) in order to pace themselves. Worse, for those who are prone to easy distraction, hourglasses are silent; by the time you discern the ratio of sand on the top to sand on the bottom and calculate how much time you have left, you’ll have forgotten what you were writing or doing in the first place!

Hourglasses also lack the precision you’ll need if you want to make a soufflé.

So, let’s first look at the basic characteristics of a good timer.

A Good Timer Must Be Simple

It doesn’t matter whether you use a digital timer (or app) or an analog clock timer, though there are features of each style that will make you more likely to enjoy the experience and therefore stick to it.

The first essential principle is that a timer must be easy — preferably intuitive — to operate. You shouldn’t need a thirty-page manual or a YouTube video to figure out how it works.

A Good Timer Should Offer A Bonus 

If a timer doesn’t offer something more than or different from what you’ve already got, why are you looking for something new?

Why buy a physical timer that’s not materially different from the kitchen timer on your stove?

If a turn of a dial and a loud, angry buzz will suffice for you, if you only need one timer set at a time, if all your work is done in proximity to the kitchen — why look further?

Similarly, why download an app that does what your phone’s countdown timer can already do?

We professional organizers caution clients that buying more and different bins and storage items won’t solve problems if you don’t purge excess and sort what remains. Similarly, if you’re not using the various timer apps you’ve already downloaded, and there’s nothing materially different about the ones you’re coveting in the app store, back away from the screen!

If a timer can’t do anything but replicate the features you already have available to you, it’s not a benefit; it’s clutter. So, either identify what’s not already satisfying about the timers you have at your disposal, or investigate what else is prompting you to keep shopping for a solution.

A Good Timer Integrates with What You Already Have

A timer should have the capacity to work with your calendar or to-do list, if necessary. You shouldn’t have to learn an entirely new app’s system for scheduling, time blocking, or task completion. If you’re using your timer in conjunction with a virtual meeting, it should integrate with the meeting software (as we discussed last week).

Does the timer you’re considering play nicely with whatever you’re already doing, or does it force you to jump through hoops. 

  • Got a physical timer that fits in with your desk vibe, so it doesn’t look like a leftover from your 7th-grade math class? Stellar! But if your tangible timer topples off your shelf or is too big to fit in your school or work bag, you’re going to leave it behind.
  • Do you need a timer app that syncs with your calendar or to-do list, or at least fits with your digital-only life?

There’s no best timer solution because we all need and want different things. The key to your timer helping you succeed is if it helps reinforce routines and habits you already love (or at least are learning to try to love).

The key to your timer helping you succeed is if it helps reinforce routines and habits you already love (or at least are learning to try to love). Share on X

A Good Timer Shows You the Shape of Time

Time is measured in hours, minutes, seconds, even milliseconds, and yet it can seem amorphous. With the exception (as we’ll discuss later) of those who feel anxious working against a visible countdown clock, the prospect of using a timer delivers a great advantage: helping you see the progress of time at a glance.

You want a visual cue that says, “Look! Time is passing… but don’t panic,” — not one that leaves you feeling like Indiana Jones watching the stone door close.

 

The less cognitive effort and physical attention it takes to check in, the more you stay in flow. And the more you stay in the flow, focused on your goals, the more productive you will be. The timer is there to help you be motivated to start working, and then to prompt you step away when it’s time to rest.

When you look away to see if here’s any time left on the timer, you should be able to quickly refocus on your work. That means your time remaining needs to be displayed clearly and cause no confusion so you can slip seamless back into task mode.

Conversely, if you’ve been resting (or goofing off) and need to get back to work on the next Pomodoro, or must keep the roast from turning into a charcoal briquette, you’ll want a loud (enough) yoo-hoo to help you transition to the next stage!

A Good Timer Should Be Frictionless

If a timer is annoying or awkward to use, you’re going to find reasons to avoid using it. Setting a timer should be as easy as turning a dial or scrolling to the correct time and pushing a button or toggling it to ON. 

A tangible timer should either be mechanical and battery-free, or the batteries should be easy to replace with the kinds of batteries you already tend to have on hand, usually AA or AAA. (A client of mine recently bought a large number of small flashlights to keep around her house in case  of a power outage; she didn’t realize that they required 3.7 volt lithium ion batteries, so she had to purchase special batteries and a charger. Always check what kind of batteries a gadget requires!)

The annoying truth is that humans are willing to go to ridiculous levels of effort to avoid easy solutions to their problems.

Look at the number of children (and adult significant others who act like children) who won’t lift the lid off the laundry hamper in order to put dirty clothes inside. They’ll pile laundry up on top or just drop things on the floor rather than taking that teeny bit of one-second, lift-the-lid effort to use the hamper.

Thus, anything that creates friction — batteries that die quickly, an app that requires you to log in every time you want to use it — is going to slow you down or prompt you to avoid using it altogether.

When you're looking for a timer to help you be more productive, anything that creates friction — batteries that die quickly, and app that requires you to log in every time — is going to slow you down or prompt you to avoid using it… Share on X

A Good Timer Is Process-Agnostic

No, this has nothing to do with timing a Sunday morning or Friday night sermon. Rather, whatever timer you choose should let you develop your own personal system. Francesco Cirillo, the inventor of the Pomodoro Technique, used a process of trial and error to develop the idea of working in no more than four 25-minute sessions with a five-minute break between each.

It’s a popular strategy and definitely helps conquer procrastination. But as convenient as 25/5 Pomodoros are for students struggling to hunker down and study or work on problem sets, these are not magic productivity numbers.

If I wrote this blog in 25-minute chunks, I’d likely be interrupting myself just as I started to get my creative mojo flowing. Instead, I tend to use modified Pomodoros or the 52/17 Method when I’m writing because I can get into more of a flow. However, for boring admin work like accounting or filing, I’ll often opt for 15-minute time blocks because I know I will try to “beat the clock” to get as many tasks as possible done in an hour.

As we’ll see, a timer needs to fit the way you want to use it for you to achieve maximum productivity.

HOW TO IDENTIFY THE BEST TIMER FOR YOUR NEEDS AND PERSONALITY

Beyond the basics of a good timer, what makes a timer fit your path to productivity depends largely on your style and the kind of work you’re trying to accomplish. As we discussed last week, this could involve anything from a team brainstorming meeting at work to getting the laundry folded before company comes, preventing hyper-focus when dealing with email or just getting out the door on time.

Even with all of the basics in play, there are a variety of customizations that will make-or-break your timer experience.

Aesthetics of a Timer

A timer, whether for strict Pomodoros or just to make sure you don’t let the pasta water boil over, needs to invite you to use it.

If you’re a no-nonsense type of person, you may want a digital timer that lets you pick the work and break durations quickly, with no fuss, and that’s all!

If your aesthetic tastes tend toward the cozy and traditional, you might prefer something nostalgic like the traditional tomato-shaped timer; if you have a cute and twee aesthetic, your ideal timer may look like this:

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Nuoswek Mechanical kitchen timer 

If you’re opting for a digital timer, you might want to be able to adjust the brightness and color. Some people can’t abide the standard screen for a digital app and immediately opt for dark mode; others want a timer set to their personal color aesthetic.

For example, when I’m in the Time Timer app, even though I almost always prefer to use light mode on my screens for writing and surfing, I like dark mode for timers. For me, that makes the timer blend into the background and I can quickly regain my focus after checking the timer.

Similarly, I usually select pink or purple timers, but I have clients who color-code timers for specific tasks: red timers for high-impact work, blue timers for meditation, green for exercise, and so on.


Perhaps the visual aspects of a timer are less important to you than the auditory ones. Maybe you prefer your timer to have an alarm or musical alert that won’t be jarring

In the comments on last week’s post, my colleague Sabrina Quairoli noted that using timers can make people anxious. That anxiety can come from the concept of a timer itself, or from the sound the timer makes. If it’s the sound, it’s a matter of selecting a timer with customizable auditory options. 

If the concept of a timer with the time ticking down quickly makes you antsy, you’re going to want to avoid a digital timer showing the seconds slipping away as if you’re trying to make your Oscar acceptance speech before the orchestra plays you off the stage.

Instead, opt for a timer with a soothing visual approach, one that doesn’t show the second-by-second passage of time. Rather, select one that indicates the overarching passage of time (the minutes or chunks of time) without the more granular metrics. 

For example, all of Time Timer‘s analog timers that use a colored disk would be appropriate for a more gentle approach to illustrating the passage of time.

Note: The TimerTimer Twists, have both an analog and digital countdown; if seeing those seconds disappear stresses you out, skip those versions.

Customizability without complexity

You want a timer that will adjust to your rhythm, whether you’re a 25-minute Pomodoro purist for blogging or a “give me 43 minutes because that’s how long (without commercials) it took Columbo to solve a crime” computer code bug tracker.

Consider whether you just want your timer to just block time and alert you when your scheduled time is up, or if you prefer it to automatically set alternating work and rest intervals. Some timers will let you set any increments you want, at least up to 99 minutes. Others are fixed, and will only let you set the timer in five minute increments.

If you’re hoping to use the timer to for cooking, exercising, or for medical purposes (like the seconds after self-administering an injection before you can remove the needle, or the number of seconds to do breathing exercises), you’ll want to be as granular as possible, so seconds and minutes will be key.

Teachers and parents may prefer short-format timers to help kids see and feel the duration of time: of five minutes in time-out, ten minutes of quiet reading, fifteen minutes until bedtime. Meanwhile, knowledge workers will likely need larger chunks of measurable time, from 25 minutes to two hours.

Affective Design Customization

Affective design is an approach that focuses on creating products, services, and experiences that evoke emotions (or, for some purposes, avoid evoking the wrong emotions) in users.

In other words, you want to pick a timer (or selection of timers) with emotionally-supportive vibes (as the kids say). Think about the reason you’re setting up your timer, and how you want to feel while you’re working and, in particular, how you want to feel when the timer goes off and you’re being alerted to the need to transition.

Some people want Mister Rogers with a gentle ding or buzz to remind them that, “Hey, friend, you’re doing great, and you deserve the reward of a five minute break.” (Bonus material: Mr. Rogers Neighborhood episode: Waiting for Time to Pass.)

Others want Judge Judy slamming the gavel to say, “Time’s up, sweetie!” in so harsh a manner that there’s no chance you’ll go back to TikTok or forget to use the restroom if you’ve been hyper-focusing way too long.

As we’ve alluded, may want to adjust your sound options to create the best vibe. Do you want to be be shaken to attention to make sure you’ll stop doomscrolling and get out the door to pick your kid up from ballet? Or might you prefer a soothing trill of music to signal the end of a writing session (without a din) so that you won’t forget that brilliant turn of phrase you were just starting to write? 

One-and-done or loop-de-loop?

Just as you may need to consider how in-your-face a timer should be to help you be as productive as possible, you also should think about how attentive a timer you want.

If you’re cooking something and are afraid either your body or your mind will stray, a one-and-done timer will suffice.

Conversely, there are a number of reasons you might want to set repeated or looping cycles, such as if:

A looping function is especially nice if you tend to overstay your planned breaks between tasks. Setting a repeated work/break timer prevents “I’ll take a five-minute break” from becoming a Netflix bender.

You may not always want to create repetitive cycles, but a timer that can repeat or remind you to reset will help automate your habits. (Generally, you’ll need a digital timer if you want cycles to loop automatically.)

Discretion is the better part of timing

In addition to considering what’s the best timer for your own situation, you may need to seek one with discreet modes for the benefit of not disturbing the people around you. For example:

Sleeping baby by Ivone De Melo

  • sleeping babies (or easily startled pets)
  • roommates or housemates (particularly those on different sleep, class, or work schedules)
  • co-workers in cubicles or open-format offices
  • fellow library or coffee house patrons

In such situations, you’ll want a timer with the stealth of a Mission: Impossible agent (not the drama of a WWE competitor making a grand entrance.

If you often find yourself working (or otherwise needing to focus) while in the company of others with different focus agendas, consider whether it might be to your advantage to find a timer with alternatives to an audible “time’s up” alert. A gentle blink or color shift can be just as effective as a sound.

Picking a timer for someone else

We all want the timer equivalent of Mary Poppins — practically perfect in every way — but the truth is that we will always have to consider the task involved and personality of the user. Additionally, you may need to identify timer solutions for people with special auditory or visual challenges (like the Time Timer BRAILLE 8”) or medical needs.

In other words, the timer your seven-year-old needs to focus while doing math homework may be very different from what your fifteen-year-old needs to get up from an hour of gaming and leave for band rehearsal.

And both of them may need something very different from what you need from a timer at work or that Grandpa needs to remember to take his medication after dinner.


None of this means you have to spent a fortune on timers; just knowing the advantages of particular features will allow you to discern what will work best. In the next post in this series, we’ll examine traditional and novel timers for improving productivity and yielding the just right amount of focus.

What timer features are the most important to you? How does do these change depending on your work or life contexts?

Posted on: November 4th, 2024 by Julie Bestry | 14 Comments

Are you feeling wonky? If you live in North America, you turned your clocks back (or let all your digital ones do it themselves) over the weekend. (If you live in the UK, you did it a week ago. I don’t know what’s up with that, but you may still be feeling wonky.)

Although most of the negative effects of time change happen when we are springing forward to begin Daylight Saving Time, falling back to end it can still leave people struggling to wake up and feeling out of sorts for a few days, leading to some bumps in productivity.

So, if you’re feeling a little rough, don’t worry. Today’s post offers some gentle tips for feeling a little more at ease when the time on the clock and the time inside your head don’t feel friendly toward one another.

HELP YOUR BODY ADJUST TO THE TIME CHANGE

Whether you’re dealing with the time change in the spring or fall, the best way to adjust is always to shift your schedule gradually. 

Unless you’re the kind of person who misses all the reminders about the clock change and shows up an hour late (or early) to Sunday brunch, or worse, for work on Monday, you have advanced warning. When the time change is on the horizon, adjust your bedtime and waking time by ten or fifteen minutes each night for several days prior. (Make a note on your calendar to start this at the beginning of March; Daylight Saving Time starts on March 9, 2025! I’m already counting down.)

This kind of incremental approach is supposed to give your body the time to adapt. Of course, we’ve just changed the clocks, so that option is out. Still, consider the following steps for helping your body adapt to the time shift. You’ll find that these steps are generally the same ones for attaining recuperative sleep, overall.

Be the Early Bird and Get Morning Sunlight Exposure 

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m terrible at mornings. I’d happily take a flight or attend a Zoom at 3 a.m. before going to sleep, but I’d be hopeless doing the same things at 7 a.m. Early morning sunlight makes me growl. However, my science-y pals swear that natural light will help reset our internal clocks.

The research on circadian rhythms says that cycles of sunlight and nighttime darkness keep our bodies synchronized with our environment and signal our “circadian pacemakers.” This pacemaker is particularly sensitive to light in the morning and the evening, so evening light (such as we have all summer) causes a phase delay, so we don’t get tired until later and then we wake up later. Conversely, when we are exposed to bright sunlight in the morning, it causes a “phase advance,” and we start getting sleepy earlier and awaken earlier.

Sunrise Coffee Photo by Taryn Elliott

So, exposure to sunlight signals your body that it’s time to wake up; just some light permeating through your eyelids will have some kid of wakey-wakey-eggs-and-bacon-y effect. So, actually spending twenty minutes outside in the morning will help you feel less sluggish.

If the temperature allows it, take your breakfast out onto your back patio or balcony; you can enjoy your morning coffee on your front step, but if you amble out in your jammies, at least make sure you’re properly covered up as the school bus goes by. 

Improve and Optimize Your Sleep Environment

We hear it all the time: it’s important to set a consistent sleep routine.

If you’ve been living the life of a college student (or a new parent) and are all out of whack (and this has been compounded by the end of Daylight Saving Time), be patient with yourself. Know that your body will need time to adjust to whatever changes you make, but sticking to a regular bedtime and wake-up schedule (sigh, even on weekends) will improve your odds of getting better quality sleep and more of it.

Research shows that your sleep experience will improve if you consistently do the following: 

  • Keep your bedroom dark. Close your blinds or curtains. If you have old-style horizontal Venetian blinds, you may find they let in too much light. If so, try twisting them “backward” such that the curved portion faces outward. Alternatives are the more modern, wider, vertical blinds or roller shades in darker colors.

Another great option is a blackout curtain, which is designed to eliminate as much natural light as possible. Note that the longer the curtain extends from the bottom of the window toward the floor, the less light will seep out.

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If there’s a curtain gap (which always seems to happen when you’re staying in a hotel), try pinching the curtains together with clothespins or the clips of a skirt hanger.

Admittedly, if you block out all natural light, you won’t be awakened by the brightness and warmth of the sun. This increases both the importance of getting into the sunlight once you DO wake up and also necessitates a less natural method for shaking yourself out of slumber. For the latter, check out Do (Not) Be Alarmed: Paper Doll’s Wake-Up Advice for Productivity for tips on heeding that wakeup call.

Don’t forget about tiny unnatural lights. So many digital devices blink or glow. My smoke alarm has a blinking green light. Routers and DVRs and all sorts of devices have blueish glows.

In my bedroom, I have an old-fashioned Caller ID box (connected to an old-school, weighty corded landline). It blinks. Incessantly. Every time I have a message, the red light starts blinking again. Listening to the voicemail message and deleting it has no impact; I must manually clear the Caller ID box. (Sigh. It’s a tradeoff. I love the large handset of this ancient phone, but it has no caller ID. The box serves its purpose of letting me know if the inbound call is from a delightful soul or yet another robocall about my auto warranty. But that red blinking light!)   

If you’ve got bright or blinking LED lights on gadgets in your sleeping area (either at home or when traveling), consider getting a sheet of removable, adhesive blackout stickers to stem the indoor light pollution. 

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In addition to adjusting your lighting while you’re sleeping, train your body to sense the cycle of day and night by dimming your household lights as bedtime approaches. Experts say that lowering the lights helps signal your body that it’s time to wind down. Think about how you can gradually reduce your exposure to artificial lighting in the evening (without risking bumping into the furniture).  

  • Create a quiet environment. Quiet doesn’t necessarily mean silent. I prefer a combination of white noise: my central HVAC fan is turned to on (instead of auto, so I’m not constantly jarred by that thunk of it turning off) and my Rain, Rain thunderstorm app as I described in 11 Ways To Organize Your Focus With Ambient Noise. (Sometimes, what you want to focus on most is being blissfully unconscious.)

“Quiet” doesn’t only include your sleeping space, but also your mental space. Limit cognitively or emotionally intense activities before bed. Have you ever played a video game before bedtime and then found that your brain continues playing the moves in your head when you close your eyes? If you’ve spent hours reviewing a spreadsheet pre-jammy time, you might see those columns and rows and be unable to turn off your in-brain Excel.

For a few hours before bed, limit any activities that are emotionally stressful or require a high level of concentration. The goal is to avoid keeping your mind too active before bed, as that will make it harder to find your personal Sandman.

  • Maintain some chill. The experts estimate that the best temperature for sleeping is between 60° and 67°F. Obviously, if you’re shivering, it’s going to keep you awake, but experiment lowering the ambient temperature combined with your preferred number of blankets. If you’re a “hot sleeper” or are at a period in your life when you’re experiencing hot flashes — let’s call them power surges — consider cooling pillows and bedding
  • Keep your bedroom organized. Yes, your eyes are closed once you’re asleep, but a cluttered room presents a few obstacles to falling asleep easily, or falling back asleep after a trip to the bathroom or to check on a tiny human.

I teach my clients that “the bedroom is for sleep, rest, and intimacy.” If your bed, nightstand, and floor are covered with children’s toys, you will be distracted from all three of those purposes, and you’re more likely to step on a piece of LEGO and wail in pain, keeping you from falling back asleep and your partner from sleeping soundly.

The bedroom is for sleep, rest, and intimacy. If your bed, nightstand, and floor are covered with children's toys or office work, you will be distracted from all three purposes. Share on X

If your computer is open next to your bed, or your work desk lives in the bedroom, or your credit card bills are piled near where you sleep, the chance of disturbed sleep is higher because those items will subconsciously cue your brain to fret over them when you’re trying to fall asleep.

Declutter your bedroom so that the floor around your bed is free of tripping hazards, and so the only things visible are those that are functional or soothing. I know, it’s easier said than done, but even taking a few moments to tidy your space (and training yourself and others not to bring non-bedroom-y things into your room in the first place) will have a positive effect.

Don’t be Blue!

As we talked about in Celebrate the Global Day of Unplugging, screens (computer, phone, tablet, or TV) and particularly the blue lights of screens from your devices, can interfere with your body’s ability to produce melatonin.

Find alternatives to screens in the bedroom, and consider different pre-sleep habits that don’t involve screens. You could journal, read a tangible book, do simple stretches while listening to soothing music, memorize a poem, or practice an uncomplicated craft. Define “uncomplicated” as you choose, but needlework that doesn’t require bright task lighting is going to be better than a craft that involves scissors, glue, and (eek!) glitter.

Don’t Do the Dew — and Limit the Moonshine, Too!

You may not think that one more fizzy beverage or cup of coffee will make a big deal, but a 12-ounce cup of Mountain Dew contains around 54 milligrams of caffeine. (An eight-ounce cup of coffee has 95 milligrams of caffeine!)

Caffeine can stay in your system for hours and have a detrimental effect on your sleep, so experts suggest avoiding it after mid-afternoon. (Yeah, I know this one is a toughie. What’s a diet Coke without the oomph of caffeine?) Remember, the goal is to relax your body so that you’ll sleep well and have natural energy for work or school the next day.

The experts similarly encourage people to limit drinking alcohol in the pre-sleep hours. One might aassume alcohol encourages relaxation, but it actually disrupts the sleep cycle, making sleep less restorative. For those who choose to imbibe, know that doing so earlier in the evening will minimize the negative impact on sleep. 

Watch Out for Midnight Snacks

Experts encourage us to avoid heavy meals or snacks in the late evening. Larger meals closer to bedtime can take longer to digest and disrupt sleep.

However, if you’re hungry, that may also make it hard to fall asleep. Personally, I find that a small protein-packed snack and a tiny bit of carbs (like a handful of almonds or a few cheese and crackers stacks) helps my body find dreamland. Experiment to find what works for you.

Watch Your Daytime Habits

We tend to think of our pre-bed activities as the key to falling asleep, but getting our full eight (or more) hours requires a bevy of other self-care habits.

  • Participate in an active lifestyle — This doesn’t mean you have to train for the Olympics or spend every day at the gym. But physical activity helps you sleep better.

Consider a yoga, tai chi, or qigong regimen in the evenings as shown in the following videos, or go for an early morning walk (with the bonus of getting morning sunlight).

Bedtime Yoga with Adrienne

 

5 Minute Tai Chi Flow for a Restful Night’s Sleep

 

Qigong for Sleep with Nick Loffree

 

If you are already active, just remember to avoid vigorous exercise close to bedtime, as it can be too stimulating, making it harder to fall sleep.

  • Learn how to relax — It’s hard to conk out when our brains are focused on what’s stressing us out. However, even when we’ve cut down our mental focus on stressors, our bodies tattle on us. We hold stress in our muscles and joints.

In addition to practicing the physical relaxation techniques described in the above videos, find ways to mentally relax as you approach bedtime. Maybe you’re good at meditating — I’m not — but there are so many other options, too. Learn deep breathing exercises, journal, or take a warm bath before heading to bed. Do whatever you can, both throughout the day and as sleepy time approaches, to progressively relax your mind as well as your body.

  • Hydrate throughout the day — We live in a hydration nation. Everyone seems to have a giant water bottle named Stanley. Being well-hydrated prevents fatigue, which helps maintain overall energy levels so you can avoid late-day napping, stay active, and adapt not just to the time change but to unexpected changes in your schedule.

An Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) report, The Cognitive Effects of Proper Hydration, spells out the key benefits of staying hydrated, including improved focus and short-term encoding of memories, better long-term memory recall, and improved critical thinking skills.

Additionally, research shows that “low water consumption tends to lead to worse moods, as well as headaches, confusion, and tiredness” and better hydration makes people feel calmer and in better moods. The steadier your mood, the more likely you’ll be relaxed enough to sleep well at night.

However, slow your hydration pace as you approach bedtime so you can minimize disruptions to your sleep. (If you wake up for a bathroom break, you’ll almost certainly never get back to that steamy dream with Jason Momoa.)

Don’t stop hydrating altogether, though. Our brain tissues have no way of storing water, and our waking brains need some hydration at least every two hours to function optimally. Drink water upon awakening to help you start your day.

  • Watch out for naps — If you’ve had a rough night, a nap can help you recover, but keep it brief, to no more than 20 to 30 minutes.

Additionally, avoid napping late in the day (so, no pre-dinner snoozing), as it can interfere with your ability to fall and stay asleep at night. (If you’re feeling draggy, try drinking some cold water to pep you up!)

Instead, trying following one of the international approaches to early afternoon napping and recuperative resting that I outlined in Take a Break for Productivity — The International Perspective.

Additionally, the Mayo Clinic has some good advice for taking naps effectively in Napping: Do’s and Don’ts for Healthy Adults, and the book Take a Nap! Change Your Life. purports to change the reputation of naps for the better and help people improve their health through the right methods of napping. (You could always listen to the audiobook; worst case scenario, it’ll put you to sleep!)

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Make Waking Up in the Morning More Appealing

For some of us, no matter how hard it is to fall asleep, we can’t bear to get out of our cozy beds.  Consider organizing your resources so that whatever you have to face in the morning is desirable. Here are a few ideas:

  • A pleasant alarm — that seems like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? — that gently wakes you, or one set to a radio station that will make you laugh or want to sing is a great way to nudge you from sleeping to wakefulness.
  • A cozy bathrobe or dressing gown helps ease the shock of moving from your comfy bed to a house set more for cooler sleeping temperatures than warm wakey-uppies.
  • A new shower head  — TikTok kept tempting me and I finally gave in and bought one of those new filtered, hand-held shower heads. (It’s even got a doohickey so you can use it like a garden hose to clean the shower.) Whether you want a shower massage or a rainforest effect, upgrading your morning shower routine gives you something to look forward to. You may not jump out of bed, but perhaps you won’t grumble so much.
  • A breakfast fit for Sleeping Beauty — In the ideal world, Jeeves would serve breakfast in bed. Failing that, aim for some special food or beverage treats, to make the morning meal inviting for the senses.
  • Start a new morning routine — If you don’t have enough of an opportunity to read, put a good book by your breakfast setting and instead of doom-scrolling social media. Take a brisk ten-minute walk around the block instead of checking morning emails. Call your BFF (but only if she’s likely to be awake already) and develop your plans to take over the world.

Organizing your morning to do just a few things differently could yield all sorts of bonuses as the day goes on.

Organizing your morning to do just a few things differently could yield all sorts of bonuses as the day goes on. Share on X

Take Your Sleep Health Seriously

If you have more than occasional trouble falling or staying asleep, don’t take things into your own hands.

  • Don’t self-medicate. We already discussed how alcohol disrupts sleep patterns, but it’s common for frustrated sleepers to seek out other (problematic) ways to self-medicate via over-the-counter options.

Even the commonly suggested solution of melatonin supplements are not suitable for everyone. For example, melatonin can lower blood sugar, causing hypoglycemia in people with diabetes; it’s also contraindicated for people taking blood pressure medications, blood thinners, certain contraceptives, and anti-convulsant medications. (People who are pregnant or breastfeeding, or who have autoimmune or seizure disorders or clinical depression should also not take melatonin.)

  • Talk to a medical professional. Paper Doll is a professional organizer, not a sleep doctor (and I don’t play one on television). If you consistently have trouble falling or staying asleep, confer with your healthcare provider to make sure you don’t have an underlying medical condition (like sleep apnea) contributing to your difficulties. If you do learn that you have a sleep disorder, you may also want to find a sleep specialist through one of the following

American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) 

American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine (AADSM)

Your ability to be productive and organized in the daytime depends in large part of you successfully organizing your sleep at night. Sleep well!

WHEN WILL WE BE RID THIS INFERNAL CHANGING OF THE CLOCKS?

Your phone and computer likely change their own clocks. Your oven and microwave clocks likely do not. The clocks on my cordless landlines are triggered to change when receive an inbound call! I have a relatively glucometer (for testing blood sugar) and spent Sunday morning struggling with a multi-panel instruction sheet that made me feel like I was trying to fold a 1950s Rand McNally street map! There’s a reason so many people’s VCRs used to blink 12:00 all the time. 

It’s not difficult. It’s just a little frustrating. We’re a quarter of the way into the 21st century. Shouldn’t we be past this by now?

If you are wondering why we still have to change the clocks, you’re not alone. 

Those who would rather see the clock change go the way of the dodo cite sleep disruption and the resulting loss of productivity as well as increased risk of traffic accidents (in the spring and fall), mental health struggles (including Seasonal Affective Disorder) caused by decreased post-work/school hours of sunlight, and increased crime (because bad guys prefer their evil-doing in darkness). 

The problem is that nobody can agree one whether to have permanent Standard Time (as in Hawaii and Arizona) or Permanent Daylight Saving Time. More than a dozen states have already passed legislation in support of keeping DST year-round, arguing it provides a better quality of life, with more light in the evenings. Paper Doll is generally in this camp. If you’re stuck at work all day, you probably want sunlight greeting you at the end of your workday so the winter hours don’t feel like drudgery.  However, if you’ve got little kids, you probably don’t want them waiting for the school bus in the dark every morning.

Whether we go with Standard or Daylight Saving Time, there’s no way to make everyone happy, at least not until our AI overlords can update all of our clocks (and our circadian rhythms) in one fell swoop. Perhaps that’s why, although the Sunshine Protection Act of 2023 (which would have made DST permanent as of last year) received unanimous consent from the United States Senate in March 2022, the bill has languished in the House of Representatives. Sigh. How very disorganized of them.


Assuming our leaders don’t straighten this out, we’ll be changing our clocks yet again this March, so let’s at least take an opportunity to laugh about it, courtesy of the Holderness Family.