Now: one thing, right now
Now shows the one block you planned for this moment, with a big countdown to when it ends and what comes next: a visual timer that already knows your day.
What you can do with Now
- The block you're in, big and clear. Now shows what you planned for this moment: a task, a habit, an activity or a quick block from your day.
- A countdown, not a stopwatch. The time left in the block counts down in large numbers, so a glance tells you where you are.
- What's next, and how long until then. Up next shows the following block, and warns you when there's a gap before it.
- Free time, named. Between blocks, Now says so plainly: "Free time", with the minutes until your next thing.
- Done, or let it go. Mark the block done, or dismiss it without guilt. Dismissing can be undone.
- The rest of today at a glance. A short list of what's left, with how many blocks you've finished.
- Meetings too, if you want them. Turn on "Use in Focus" for a subscribed calendar, and its meetings count down here as well.
- A layout for every screen. Split on a wide screen, one column on a tall one, or swipe cards on a phone. Auto picks for you.
Why I wanted a visual timer that knows my day
I used to write on a whiteboard the one thing I wanted to focus on right now. It worked, until the day moved on and the whiteboard didn't.
Now is that whiteboard, connected to the day I'd already planned: it knows what I chose for this hour, how long is left, and what comes after. I don't have to keep checking the calendar to know where I am.
Rachit, founder of Xale
The ideas behind Now
One thing in front of you
Attention works best on one thing at a time. Everything else can wait in the list.
- Worth reading: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow (1990). Deep absorption comes from a clear goal for the moment and nothing competing with it.
- The usual way: a to-do list with twenty items, all asking for attention at once.
- In this release: one block, big and clear, with the rest of the day tucked to the side.
Let the clock do the remembering
Keeping an eye on the time is its own small job. Hand it off.
- Worth reading: Dan Harris, 10% Happier (2014). Much of our stress is the mind running ahead to what's next instead of staying with what's here.
- In this release: a countdown to the end of the block and a quiet "Up next", so the next thing is known without being thought about.
Further reading
- Sophie Leroy, "Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks", Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (2009). doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.04.002
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