15 Minute Timer
15:00
Fifteen minutes is the workhorse of avoided tasks. It is long enough to make visible progress on almost anything and short enough that you can see the end from the beginning, which is what makes it easy to agree to.
What 15 minutes is good for
- Household admin and paperwork
- A daily language or instrument practice
- The first block of a session you intend to extend
- Anything you have rescheduled more than twice
Where it falls down
Ends right around the point where deep work starts becoming possible. If you are consistently annoyed when it rings, that is information — move to twenty-five.
Using it well
Name one task before you press begin — not a subject but a task, the kind of thing that can be finished or not finished. Put the phone in another room rather than face down; the difference between silenced and requiring you to stand up is the whole intervention. And stop mid-sentence when it rings, because returning to an obvious next keystroke is far easier than returning to a blank page.
If you set the timer and then still do not start, the problem is not the length. It is the crossing, and no timer configuration fixes that — a timer has nothing to say about whether you began. That is what body doubling is for.
Common questions
- Why does fifteen minutes work when an hour does not?
- Because an hour has to be defended and fifteen minutes does not. The cost of committing is what stops most sessions from happening, and it scales with the length you are asked to commit to — not with the difficulty of the work.
- Should I take a break after fifteen minutes?
- Usually not. Breaks exist to protect against fatigue, and fifteen minutes rarely produces any. If you are working in fifteen-minute units, stack two or three before stopping.
Other lengths
- Online timers
Working timers for every focus length, with the honest case for each one.
- ADHD Timer
A free ADHD-friendly visual timer with 5, 10, 20 and 25-minute starts, ambient sound and no account. Start small, then continue if focus arrives.
- 5 Minute Timer
A five-minute timer that runs in your browser. Five minutes is the length you use when the task is not the problem — starting is.
- 10 Minute Timer
A ten-minute timer that runs in your browser. Long enough to finish something small, short enough to agree to on a bad day.
- 20 Minute Timer
A twenty-minute timer that runs in your browser. A gentler alternative to the standard pomodoro, and often a better fit.
- 25 Minute Timer
A twenty-five minute timer that runs in your browser. The standard pomodoro length, and the default unit for focused work.