Focus timer for ADHD, with a place to park stray thoughts

How this focus timer works

1. Pick a length. Tap a quick length, or use − and + to go up or down five minutes at a time, anywhere from 5 to 120.
2. Say what you're focusing on, if you like. It stays under the clock as a reminder of what you sat down for.
3. Start focusing, or press the space bar.
4. Jot a thought when something pops up: the email you forgot, the thing to buy, the worry about tomorrow. Type it, press Park it, and the timer keeps running. The little amber count tells you how many are waiting.
5. When it ends, you'll see how long you focused and your total. Keep the thoughts that matter and drop the rest.

It's the focus timer from the Noodl app, screen for screen, so if you later move to your phone nothing will feel new.

Why park a thought instead of acting on it?

A thought you're trying to hold on to keeps tugging at you. With ADHD, the usual move is to deal with it right now, "just quickly", and twenty minutes later you're three tabs away from what you were doing. Writing it down settles the tug without the detour. Researchers call this cognitive offloading, and putting things outside your head has been found to improve performance on the task at hand.

The jot only holds the thought. It doesn't sort it or remind you. When the session ends, keep what matters somewhere you'll see it, or do the brain dump properly.

How long should a focus session be?

Shorter than you think, at least at first. Ten minutes you actually start beats an hour you keep putting off. If the start is the wall, set five and promise yourself you can stop when it ends; you often won't want to.

Ended early? It still counts, and the total says so: your focus time in this browser only ever goes up. A day off doesn't take anything away.

If you want work and break rounds instead of one countdown, the Pomodoro timer does that. If it's the passing of time you struggle to feel, try the visual timer.