[hyllos]

Pauses. I am experimenting with basic scheme of 25 mins focus and then 5 mins pause. It is mind blowing how it lowers frustration and sort of ensures that I start work only on a clear task which I often tend to loose to easily. The biggest surprise are the pauses (no, no email checking or web browsing; get up and move around). While formerly I experienced it that I don't have enough time to do what I want to do, I experience just the opposite of it during pauses. Now, what do I do in this time? Wow. That's new. But also hard to stick to it. But there is more to it, the rules and principles that go along with it.

[LeafItAlone]

Sounds like the Pomodoro Technique [0] (also mentioned in the article). Glad it is working out for you! I tried that to help with my ADHD with very little and very fleeting success.

0. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique

[rchaud]

The classic Pomodoro is said to be 25minn + 5 mins break, which adds up to half an hour, which is a common measurement unit for time worked. I've discovered that for my needs, a 20 min pomodoro with 5 mins rest works better.

The problem is that Pomodoros are hard to count if you hit flow state and find it hard to stop when the timer rings.

[mmatants]

To add a data point, I used to do Pomodoro timing (25+5 min) but now switched to 15 min timer with a loose 2-5 min break. It's still hard to actually pull out of hyper-focus/anxious perseveration sometimes, but the shorter timer period seems to match my task cadence better. And the non-timed break just vibes better because it doesn't feel like punishment then.