Scheduling Focus

Are you sick and tired of “wishing” you could have more self-control?

Do you want your computer to magically block out all your distractions at a time and date when you really need to focus on getting work done?

Focus allows you to plan blocks of productivity ahead of time with the Scheduling feature.

You can choose when Focus is active ahead of time, allowing you to automatically get started on your tasks without having to worry about forgetting to turn it on.

Create a super-disciplined schedule for your week, or just choose a few hours in your week when you want to get engaged in deep work.

No matter your needs, Focus allows you to create the schedule that’s just right for you and your productivity needs.

How To Use The “Scheduling” Feature In Focus

To access this feature, click the Focus menubar icon, click Preferences and then click on the Schedule tab:

As you can see, there are several schedules, with each schedule belonging to its own row.

Let’s go over the options that are available to you:

1. If you click the “|||” icon on the very left of any schedule and drag it, you can change the order in which your schedules appear
2. If you click the “X” button on the very right of any schedule, it will be deleted
3. If you click the “?” icon, you will be taken towards this article
4. If you click the “Add schedule” button, a new row (i.e. schedule) will be added.
5. If you click the checkmark box corresponding to a schedule, Focus will activate the schedule. You will also be able to edit a schedule.

NOTE: If the checkmark box corresponding to a schedule is unchecked, the schedule will become deactivated. Focus will not follow it.

Now, let’s see what happens when you want to activate a schedule (or modify it) in Focus:

All of the parameters corresponding to a schedule can now be edited.

If you click on the “Weekdays” drop-down menu, you will see the following options:

Here are all of your available options:

• Day of the week: Focus will be activated at the selected day under the given time period on the right.
• Weekdays: Focus will be activated on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday under the given time period on the right.
• Weekends: Focus will be activated on Saturday and Sunday under the given time period on the right.
• Every day: Focus will be activated on all days of the week under the given time period on the right.

To edit the time period under which Focus is activated for a given schedule, simply click on the hour or minute and type in your desired number.

You can also use the up and down arrows next to each time to change the hour.

To further modify your schedule, click on the “AM” or “PM” parameter beside each time period to modify your schedule. When you do so, type “a” to change the time to AM and “p” to change the time to PM.

When you are finished with your changes, click on “Save Changes” and Focus will operate under your customized schedule.

How To Activate 24 HOUR MODE In Focus With The “Scheduling” Feature

If you want Focus to stay active for an entire day, simply do the following:

• Choose a day of the week where you want Focus to stay active
• When modifying the time periods, make both of them the exact same time

Focus will read this input to mean that it should be activated for an entire 24 hours.

For instance, if you set up a schedule for Tuesdays from 2pm to 2pm, Focus will block all pre-configured distractions from Tuesday at 12:00am to Wednesday at 12:00am.

How Focus Protects You Against Scheduling Accidents

Now you may be wondering: “What happens if I accidentally set up a longer schedule than I intended?”

Not to worry! Focus will warn you when it detects an activated schedule that may be longer than you intended.

This is a fail-safe command installed into the program so you never set up a schedule that you mistakenly made.

This feature also works with multiple complex schedules that are chained together. If this warning pops up for you, review your schedules and make sure you are OK with all of the changes you made.