Milestones make a faraway goal feel close

A game rewards you within seconds of each move. A report due in 3 weeks gives you no feedback until someone marks it. Many people start the game and put off the report. The difference is the distance to the reward.

A review of the research on procrastination found that the distance to a reward is one of the strongest predictors of putting a task off (Steel, 2007). Later reviews found that a reward further away pulls less (Jackson and MacKillop, 2016; Patros and colleagues, 2016). The effect is stronger in people with ADHD. The report is no more boring than the game. Its reward is further away.

What milestones do

Milestones close that distance. They put a goal within reach of your next session. A count that moves with each session makes a faraway goal feel close. Each session you complete adds to Sessions recorded. With Plus the card shows how far away the next level is.

Untimer has 54 milestones in 4 groups. The Milestones screen lists the ones you have reached with the date of each. When you reach a new one, the message box on the Timer screen announces it. A chime plays if sound is on.

The 4 groups

Time recorded counts the sessions that ran their full length.
Days counts runs of days and days with a session. It also marks a return after time away, steady months and the years since your first session.
Patterns looks at how many sessions a day holds. It also looks at the times of day and year you work in.
Tasks and breaks covers interruptions and sets. It also covers breaks and tasks, from the estimate to the finish.

Levels

Of the 54 milestones, 36 are levels on 11 counters. Each counter has one card. The card shows your level, such as Level 4 of 7. It also shows the last milestone you reached and its date. With Plus the card shows the next milestone and how far along you are. For example, it reads 1,056 of 2,500 so far.

These are the 11 counters and their levels.

Sessions recorded has 7 levels, from 10 sessions to 10,000.
Days in a row has 5 levels, from a week to a year.
Days of the last year has 3 levels. They are at 90 and 180 and 300 of the last 365 days.
Days with a session has 4 levels, from 10 days to 1,000.
Sessions in one day has 4 levels. They start at 4 sessions and go up by 4 to 16.
Interruptions noticed has 2 levels, at 50 and 250.
Full sets has 2 levels, at 10 and 100 sets.
Breaks taken has 3 levels. They count breaks taken to the end and sit at 10 and 100 and 500.
Accurate estimates has 2 levels, at 10 and 50 tasks. A task counts when it took the number of sessions you estimated, give or take 1.
Estimates revised has 2 levels, at 10 and 50. They count estimates you changed after the task was under way.
Tasks finished has 2 levels, at 10 and 100 tasks.

Milestones that appear when they happen

The other 18 milestones have no levels. Each one appears on the Milestones screen when it happens. Until then it stays off the screen. A list of things you have not done yet would weigh on you. Here are some of them.

Back after a week away appears when you have a session after more than a week without one.
Started again appears when you stop a session and start another the same day.
Early start appears when the first session of a day begins before 7 in the morning.
Late finish appears when you begin a session after 11 at night.

Started again marks a day that went badly and was picked up. Back after a week away marks a return after a gap. Most apps punish both.

Why milestones report facts

The research on rewards shaped how milestones work. It points the other way from what you might expect. An analysis of 128 experiments found that expected tangible rewards for an activity lowered people’s own motivation for it (Deci, Koestner and Ryan, 1999). People start doing the thing for the reward. When the reward stops, they stop too. Plain information about what someone had done did not have that effect.

A focus timer that pays you in points sets up exactly that condition. It wears down your own reason to focus. So Untimer gives you facts about your own work. A milestone is information. It tells you how many sessions you have recorded. It tells you the date you reached each level.

A run of days keeps its best. A milestone you reach is yours for as long as you keep the account. That holds with or without Plus.

Looking at a level feels good too. The founder has recorded thousands of sessions of his own. He knows the date he reached each level. It means something to read that in plain words from an app with no reason to flatter you.

Built for missed days

People forming a new habit took very different lengths of time to get there (Lally and colleagues, 2010). Missing a single day made little difference in the end. Days with a session counts the days you had one. A missed day leaves the count where it was. Back after a week away marks the day you return after a gap.

Free and Plus

Reaching a milestone is free. Without Plus the Milestones screen shows each milestone you have reached with its date. With Plus each card also names the next milestone and shows how far along you are. That is the part that brings a distant goal close.