Flowtime Technique Timer
Start the clock, work until your focus fades, then take the break you earned. No timer cutting you off mid-thought.
How the Flowtime Technique works
- Pick one task and press Start working. The timer counts up.
- Keep going while the work flows. When you notice your attention slipping — rereading the same line, reaching for your phone — press Stop & take break.
- Your break is calculated from the time you just worked (1/5 by default). The timer chimes when it’s over.
- Start again. Your sessions are saved to your stats, so after a week you can see how long your natural focus spans really are.
How big a break do you earn?
Drag the slider to compare break ratios for a given stretch of work.
Who Flowtime suits
Programmers, writers and designers often find that a Pomodoro chime lands at the worst moment, just as a problem comes together. Flowtime removes that. The trade-off is discipline: nothing forces the break, so it helps to look at your session lengths every so often. If your stats show one 3-hour marathon followed by a slump, a fixed rhythm might serve you better.
Questions
What is the Flowtime Technique?
A variation on Pomodoro where you don’t set a work length in advance. You start a stopwatch, work until your focus naturally drops, then take a break proportional to how long you worked. It was popularised by Zoe Read-Bivens in a 2016 blog post as an alternative for people who found Pomodoro’s fixed 25 minutes too interrupting.
How long should a Flowtime break be?
A common rule of thumb is about one fifth of the work time: 25 minutes of work earns 5 minutes, 50 earns 10, 90 earns about 18. This timer uses 1/5 by default, and you can change it to 1/3, 1/4 or 1/6.
Is Flowtime better than Pomodoro?
Neither is better for everyone. Flowtime suits deep work where being cut off mid-thought is costly. Pomodoro is better for starting tasks you are avoiding and for keeping breaks regular. If you often ignore a Pomodoro chime to finish a thought, try Flowtime.
What if I never want to stop?
That is the main risk of Flowtime. If you notice sessions stretching past 90 minutes and leaving you drained, set a ceiling (for example, stop by 90 minutes no matter what) or switch to a fixed rhythm such as 50/10.