How to use Untimer
A session from the first hold to the break, and the 4 screens around it. This guide covers each control and what it does.
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Why starting work is hard
Most of what gets called procrastination is a starting problem. Untimer makes the start small and gives it weight with a hold of the hourglass. A session is also easy to stop, and that makes it easier to begin.
One kind of procrastination looks like laziness from the outside. To the person in it, it feels like something else. The work is known and the afternoon is free. They want it done. They open the file and close it again. They make a coffee and read something. At 4 o’clock the work is still untouched.
The founder of Untimer knows that afternoon well. He noticed that the trouble sits in the first minute of the work, and the research agrees. Once the file is open and the first step is done, the next step is easier. Getting to the first step is the hard part.
What the research found
In 2007 Steel reviewed the research on procrastination. People put a task off more when its reward is far away and the task is unpleasant. People who act on impulse put things off more. The distance to the reward was one of the strongest predictors. A report due in 3 weeks has almost no pull today. The pull grows as the deadline gets close. That is why the night before is when it finally gets done.
In 2013 Sirois and Pychyl reviewed the research too. They described procrastination as a short term repair of mood. A task that makes you feel bad gets swapped for something that feels better. You pay for it with a worse feeling later. That is why telling yourself to try harder does little. The effort is already there. What you avoid is a feeling, and it sits in the first minute.
In 2006 Gollwitzer and Sheeran combined 94 tests with more than 8,000 participants. Planning when and where you will act helped people start. The effect was strongest for starting a goal.
A timer helps because it changes the size of that first minute.
What Untimer does about starting
A small start
Untimer makes the thing you start small. You start 25 minutes of work, and the rest of the report waits. A session of 25 minutes is short enough to agree to on a bad afternoon. Each session has the same length, so there is no length to bargain over. Untimer sets it for you. Deciding how long to work is one more place to stall.
A session is also the plan the research describes. It turns a vague intention into a moment. You start this task now and give it 25 minutes. Why a session is 25 minutes explains the length.
Naming the task
You can name the task before you start. You can also guess how many sessions it will take. The name is saved with the session.
The hold
You hold the hourglass for 2.5 seconds to wind it up. The session starts when you let go. A spring winds while you hold and a ratchet clicks as it goes. If you let go early, the hourglass unwinds and goes back to rest.
A hold of 2.5 seconds is short. It is long enough to notice that you have begun. A click is something you do while you are still deciding. A wind is something you do because you decided. The hold gives the start weight. It puts a small physical act between not doing and doing. Starting becomes a decision you make. Why you hold the hourglass gives the research behind the hold.
Stopping
You can stop a session at any moment. When you stop one, the hourglass goes back to rest. A soft low note plays if sound is on. The message box stays quiet about it. The session is saved with its length and how it ended. It adds no time to the day.
This matters for starting more than it seems. Part of what makes the first minute hard is the sense of signing up for the whole afternoon. You can stop a session at any time. That makes the start feel smaller. Most of the time you carry on, because the hard part was the minute you just got through. Some days you stop. Then you wind the hourglass up again 10 minutes later. The Started again milestone marks exactly that. Stopping a session early describes what Stop does.
A bad day
Here is one of the founder’s bad days. The work is open and he does not want to be in it. He holds the hourglass anyway. Holding is something he can do without wanting to. He lets go. For a few minutes he does the smallest step there is. Around minute 8 he is in it. The bell at minute 25 surprises him. He takes the break and winds the hourglass up again.
On a worse day he stops at minute 6. The app lets it pass. He makes a coffee. Later he holds the hourglass again.
In Insights the day shows one small hourglass for each session that ran. The session he stopped is saved and left off the drawing. The record shows the day as it was. It passes no judgement on him.
