I will note that I *was* happily reading Twitter, but FocusMe kicked me off, so now I am posting this idea and then getting back to work
I don't find the breaks very useful because they are too rigid. I have a flexible schedule and can't really predict when I will want or need a break. Also, if I'm working hard on something and focused, it is very counterproductive to take a break just because it's time!
I'd like to see an "unscheduled breaks" feature. For starts, perhaps an option for N breaks of length X. If I allow four 15-minute breaks in the workday, I can then go to FM, hit "take a break", and start the 15-minute counter. That would be so much more useful than trying to anticipate when I will need a 15 minute break during the day! Eventually, you might even want to allow for one long (lunch) break and a couple of short breaks. But any increased flexibility in the breaks would be very welcome.
Can I run multiple plans/timers at the same time? ie: I want to have a certain block plan and run the pomodoro plan on top of it to time my sessions pomodoro style. I have various plans to set up for my different jobs I do. (some web design, some graphics and some social media marketing (right in the lion's den, I know!) So I don't want to have to set up the different jobs to each have 25 minute pomodoro timers in case I need to switch a job in the middle of a pomodoro timer session. Am I making this way to complex?
Maybe I just stick to only doing 25 minute sessions on any job? I'm trying to keep to blocking social media unless I'm doing social media marketing and only limit those social media marketing times to small chunks of time.
I'm on the latest FocusMe update and sometimes FocusMe will stop blocking sites until I restart my PC or until the next hour. Apps and everything else continues to be blocked. I've given FocusMe and its helper programs unrestricted background access in Windows settings but it didn't help. Please help as I really need this program to always work.
I'm new to the forum, but I've been using FocusMe for a while now, and am extremely thankful to Jon for coming up with this wonderful tool.
This is probably in the pipeline, but I wanted to suggest to make the updates automated as there are few challenges in trying to update FocusMe manually. Especially if FocusMe is already running with active plans, then updating is impossible. My wife and my brother are my accountability partners, so I'd have to ask them each time to enter multiple passwords to stop the plans I have. Worst of all even if I get them to put the password, I sometimes tend to exploit the opportunity and binge on Youtube without actually installing the updates
Currently the check for updates feature doesn't show new updates. So it would be nice to have an option to automatically update the software without manual intervention.
I'm really loving the software up to this point, and I have some suggestions for new features to implement.
I would like to set up daily, weekly and monthly goals with certain software as well as tracking the time specifically for them. And then creating goals of use time, like 4 hours per day, 30 hours a week or 120 hours a month and so on. A practical example, I would like to choose a software to track (ex.: ZBrush), and the FocusMe app would save the time of this app as usual, but also return an overview of how much time I dedicated for this software at the end of a day, week or month (user choice, for me to see easily how my time is being allocated for this specific software).
Also, as a bonus, the FocusMe could return this report, but also give important details on how this software was used. If I didn't hit my objective of 4 hours a week, for instance, the report would show which software I'm spending my time instead of the one I wanted to focus on.
Thanks for such a great program, I really think it will be an even better replacement for me than RescueTime.
I use the pomodoro technique so I really appreciate that you all have that in your system. However, I have a suggestion for a tweak.
I try to do 4 pomodoro cycles, then a long break, then another 4, then a lunch break (usually an hour, lunch with a coworker, mentee or mentor), then another 4 - long break - 4 pomodoros, then go home.
I appreciate that I can set the time for my short and long breaks, but it would be helpful if I could have one plan to run when I get to the office that would do the following :
4 - 25minute/5minute cycles of pomodoro
1 - 15 minute long break
4 - 25minute/5minute cycles of pomodoros
1 - 60 minute Lunch break
4 - 25minute/5minute cycles of pomodoro
1 - 15 minute long break
4 - 25minute/5minute cycles of pomodoros
I considered doing it as a scheduled focus time pattern, but I get to the office at different times each day and i don't want it to start without me or have to wait for it to start.
To sum up, I appreciate the pomodoro system and the ability to set focus times, as well as two types of break times, but I would like a "full work day with lunch hour" type-pomodoro plan that I could start in the morning and it would hold me accountable all day.
I hope this makes sense, let me know if you need clarifications.
Love the program! It would be great if we could integrate Google Calendar so that each period of focus time becomes an event on the calendar
It may also be helpful to go in the reverse direction, schedule your focus times through your calendar using a keyword or hashtag, or even just it's own calendar feed.
Iirc, If This Then That (IFTTT) does this with RescueTime, so it would be a great feature for y'all to offer. I know Zapier does something similar but they have crazy prices per event run.
Thanks for looking into this, I think it would be an incredible integration for lots of users.
Trying out FM and I'm very impressed so far. Planning to subscribe when my trial runs out - my goodness but I need this!
My number one use it to minimize distracting websites (twitter, I'm looking @ you). The timed mode is great for this.
Feature/UI suggestion: Timer should only be visible when it's counting down (because I'm on a blocked site), and then it should be always on top and probably bright red. I don't need the timer when I'm working -- it's irrelevant! Only when I'm on a distracting site do I need it to remind me that my time here is limited. Furthermore, I never need the session length -- if it's the length of a work day, it's just counting down till 5pm Not especially helpful.
I know having everything user customizable is a hassle, but these options would be incredibly significant for me. I wonder how many others primarily use GM in an access-time-limited mode?
Not especially helpful.