Finding Focus through Intention (and a Timer App)

A few months ago, I wrote about why I struggle to focus. Since then, I've been doubling down on one of the solutions I mentioned, the Pomodoro technique. I wanted to summarize where I am on this journey now, and what unexpected benefits I found with the tool I’m currently using to create small focus sessions during the day.

The Problem with Focus

My problem was simple but frustrating: I couldn't account for where my time went. I'd sit for hours at my computer, switching between tasks, but at the end of the day, nothing was actually finished.

Does it sound familiar?

A typical example: I see an interesting engineering management question on Reddit. I love these questions because the thing that motivates me most is when I can help others be better in this role. The world needs more good managers, especially in this high-stress climate! Anyway, I start writing a detailed response. While I’m thinking about how to express a thought, I nerve-reflex-Cmd-Tab to GMail and notice a newsletter in my inbox. There's an article linking to something relevant to my answer! Two hours later, I'm deep in a Bluesky thread about failed startups, my original response still half-written in a sea of open browser tabs and half-read posts, and I should go to bed because it's almost midnight. And I only wanted to open Reddit for a bit while my Docker containers were updating! The day ends with lots of activity but zero progress on meaningful work.

Beyond Time Management

I tried the classic Pomodoro approach with a simple timer on my watch. The idea made sense: work for 25 minutes, take a break, repeat, I don't need a new tool for that. But something was missing. Setting a timer didn't solve my core problem - I was still just moving through time blocks without a clear purpose, easily distracted, becoming less and less motivated.

Session changed this by adding one crucial element: intention. Before each block, it asks me to declare what I want is the intent of the session. Not just what I'll work on, but what specific outcome I'm aiming for, what I want to achieve. This subtle shift transformed time management into focus management.

This isn't about fancy features making Pomodoro "easier" (it's already trivial) - it's about making each block of time meaningful. Where my watch timer just said "Start working", Session creates a small ritual of setting an intention, even offering a few short guided breaths to calm down and start focusing:

At first, this seemed like a small nice-to-have, but combined with reviewing my intent, it creates a moment to truly empty my brain and focus on planning my approach, the first step I’m about to take once the clock starts ticking.

Using Intent

I started experimenting with making my intents into clear success measures. Instead of "work on newsletter", I write "newsletter draft ready to edit" or "spreadsheet data is pulled into an array". These intents become true/false statements - either I achieved them or I didn't.

Having to think about the intent of the next session after one is finished (or missed) is a good exercise in ensuring I’m still on the right path, not chasing down a side-idea in a rabbit hole. But this simple change had another benefit: it’s a great tool to help timeboxing with creative work. When I realize it’s been the second session I couldn’t finish something I planned, I’m more motivated to just ship it instead of further polishing. (Also, each missed target teaches me something about planning too.)

Taking Breaks

The forced breaks between sessions are important. The strongest argument against this is about the flow state, the feeling when time flies faster than perceived and progress is effortless towards the end goal. Interrupting this state of mind comes with a perceived risk of losing context. But Hemingway had a good thought on this:

"The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next."

I found this counterintuitive advice working for me. It's easier to resume something when I stop mid-task rather than at a natural boundary (for example at the middle of a sentence instead of at the end of a chapter) because I have a less steep ramp getting back to the context and continue where I left off.

Another reason why I stick to breaks is about health. Both physical and mental. Like most of my peers, I spend way too much time sitting, which if not interrupted by regular stretches and exercises, will quickly take its toll on my back, neck, and other muscles. Mentally, the impact of taking small breaks during the day on resilience is huge, as we discussed in a podcast episode with my co-host Jeremy last year.

Beyond Focus

There are other features of Session that made me choose this app, even paying for what others might call a glorified kitchen timer.

The most important might be tracking time. Categories help me balance time investments across different areas - content creation, studying, and other activities - and help me ensure the balance between these areas is how I’d like to spend my days.

But there are other interesting data, for example, about focusing itself. At the end of every session, I can rate how distracted I was. This data shows patterns I wouldn't otherwise notice. For example, after a few weeks, it seems that I’m consistently most focused in morning sessions and most distracted around noon. This can help me plan my days better.

The app integrates well with other tools, too. Through Apple Shortcuts, I set up the starting of a session to automatically trigger a dedicated Focus mode, muting notifications except from key contacts. All sessions are logged to Google Calendar via another integration I explained here, which helped me build a simple script to summarize time spent in various areas during 2 weeks, a cadence I'm using nowadays for planning.

What I'm Still Figuring Out

I think I have the present and the past covered, I just need a better process for the future. To be more concrete, the connection between timeboxing (planning future work) and Pomodoro (managing present work and getting insights from past work) isn't smooth yet. Now I just block focus work sessions ahead in Google Calendar, but they are a hit-and-miss. Session has planning features I haven't explored yet, but the challenge is creating a consistent system that works across both tools.

Sometimes getting out of flow for a break feels painful and I find myself hitting the "+5 minutes" button more than once. But I know that the benefits - avoiding rabbit holes, maintaining physical and mental health, and validating my direction - outweigh the temporary discomfort of context switching.

I started looking for a way to track my time better. What I found instead was a system that makes me think about how I use that time. The combination of clear intentions, structured breaks, and data about my work patterns changed how I approach focus, and therefore time itself, the only truly finite resource we have, on a more holistic level. It's not perfect, but now I can look back at my weeks, understand how time was spent, and get help to plan for the future.