This timer is set for 15 minutes of focus and a 5-minute break. Use it to start something you've been avoiding, to tidy one small corner, or to warm up before longer rounds. Fifteen minutes is short enough to say yes to, and you're allowed to stop when the chime goes.
Why does a 15 minute timer help with putting things off?
Because putting things off is often about a feeling, not a shortage of time. Psychologists Fuschia Sirois and Timothy Pychyl argue that procrastination is largely short-term mood repair: we dodge a task because it feels bad right now, and our future self pays for it.
A short, fixed round shrinks the bad feeling to something with an end. You’re not agreeing to write the report. You’re agreeing to fifteen minutes of it. The UNC Writing Center suggests the same move: break the job into the smallest possible chunks and tell yourself, “Right now, I’m going to write the introduction.”
The permission to stop is real. Often you’ll keep going. That’s a bonus, not the deal.
What can I get done in 15 minutes?
More than it sounds, as long as the job is small and specific. Some that fit:
- the first rough paragraph of something you’ve been dreading
- that phone call
- one drawer, sorted
- the inbox, down to ten
- a load of washing, folded and put away
- tomorrow, planned on the back of an envelope
For a quick tidy-up, start the timer, leave the tab open and go. The countdown shows in the tab’s title, and the chime will call you back.
How do I use 15 minutes to warm up?
Use one short round to get moving, then switch to longer ones. Starting cold on a 50-minute block is a lot to ask of a Monday morning; fifteen minutes isn’t.
Run one 15, take the break, then tap the 25 chip for the next round. Oregon State’s Pomodoro guide says 10, 15 or 20 minute blocks are fine if they’re easier for you, so there’s no need to graduate from them at all.
Patches settles in after about four minutes, so in a 15-minute round he’ll be asleep for most of it. Try not to take it personally.
When is 15 minutes too short?
When the chime keeps arriving just as you’ve found your feet. If that happens three rounds running, you’ve outgrown it, and the 25 minute timer will serve you better.
Fifteen on, five off also gives a lot of time to breaks, roughly one minute in four. That’s fine for chores and getting unstuck, and slow going for a long piece of thinking.
The opposite problem is worth checking too. If even fifteen minutes feels impossible, tap the 10 chip. A round that’s too small to dread is still a round.
Only in the app
This page is the timer and Patches. Doggydoro for iPhone is the rest of the room:
- Ten breeds to choose from, and a name of your own for yours
- Finds at the end of a session, kept in a collection
- Other apps kept out of the way while you focus, and a bedtime lock
- The countdown on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island
- A room you furnish with bones earned by focusing
- Eleven sounds to work under, sticky-note tasks, Logs and your streak
Other timers
- A Pomodoro timer with a dog in it: 25 minutes on, 5 off
- A 25 minute timer: 25 minutes on, 5 off
- A 50 minute timer: 50 minutes on, 10 off
- A 90 minute timer: 90 minutes on, 20 off
- A study timer with a dog in it: 25 minutes on, 5 off
- A visual timer, with a dog for company: 15 minutes on, 5 off
- A 5 minute break timer: 5 minutes on, 5 off
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