The Pomodoro app lets people select options like 50 minutes of working followed by a 10 minute break, and will remind them to take the needed break. 'The good news is, even small delays can dramatically lower the perceived value of any temptation,' he said, adding that by delaying the ability to visit Facebook and other popular websites by a mere five minutes, people may lose their immediate desire to check out the sites and stay on task.įindFocus also features a Pomodoro timer that will allow people to work at their computers for their most productive amounts of time before taking a break.

This knowledge inspired Boeddeker to create the FindFocus app, which will allow users to do a number of things that will boost their productivity, including the ability to unlock a website like Facebook, or their local email client only after a delay of 5 minutes.Īs Boeddeker noted, 'delay discounting' is a mind trick suggested by behavioural scientists who have found that the longer a person has to wait for a reward - for example, checking the latest posts on Facebook - the less he or she will still want to do it. It is not uncommon for a journalist or student to tell themselves 'I'll just check my email for a minute or two' or 'I will reply to one comment on Facebook and then start my writing.' While these people have every intention of getting to their work, before they know it, they have spent hours on social media, email and other websites and their projects are still unfinished.

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