Windows 11 has introduced a slew of new features. Surprisingly, many of these improvements are aimed at increasing our productivity, such as the centre-aligned Taskbar and the user gestures. Focus Sessions are another new productivity-focused adjustment.
This basic tool, as its name suggests, is meant to increase your productivity by assisting you in focusing on the work at hand. While Windows 11 appears to have a new user interface, it also has several new functionalities. One of them is the newly redesigned Clock app’s “Focus Sessions” feature. Here’s how to utilise it and do jobs with it.
It’s simple to set up, and the greatest thing is that you can use Spotify to listen to music as you work. Yes, you may also define the tasks. Doesn’t it sound intriguing?
We’ll look at how to activate and use Focus Session to increase your productivity in this post.
Let’s get this party started, shall we?
WHAT IS WINDOWS 11 FOCUS SESSIONS
As previously said, Focus Session is intended to assist you in focusing more on the task at hand. Its purpose is comparable to the Time-Block method, which allows you to set aside a specific amount of time in your day for a specific work.
Focus Sessions in Windows 11 2: How to Enable and Use Them
Previously, Windows users had to rely on third-party programmes or Chrome extensions to access it, but now we can do so directly from the Clock app.
The Clock app in Windows 11 has been updated to include Focus Assist. To manually start a session, put “Clock” into the Search icon on your taskbar. You’ll be sent to a page where you can choose how long you want the session to go and establish a daily goal if you like. There are also tiles that allow you to link your Spotify account (if you have one) to your concentration sessions or select a task for that session using Microsoft To Do. Don’t require any of these items?
To use all of the features, you’ll need to sign in first. It is not, however, required. For the time being, Focus Sessions only works with Microsoft To-Do and Spotify.
Focus Sessions in Windows 11: How to Enable and Use Them 1
With Focus Sessions, you can see your daily progress and streaks. Streaks represent the amount of times you’ve finished a session successfully. You may also create a daily goal for yourself at the same time. Microsoft has established a time limit of one hour for now.
Under the Clock app, you’ll see Focus Sessions. Simply open the start menu and type Clock into the search box.
HOW TO START A TASK
If you’re using Focus Sessions for the first time, you may need to sign in so that the app can retrieve your tasks from Microsoft To-Do.
All you have to do now is press the Start Focus session button to begin the timer. There is an option to add a break between Focus Sessions. The break is set to five minutes by default, but you may alter it under Settings (more on that later).
Step 1: To start the task, hover over the Task and click on the Select for Session button.
Step 2: Modify the Timer as per your requirements, and start the session. That’s it.
The time spent on that job will be displayed once the timer has finished (or you have manually stopped it). And this, of course, is a tremendous benefit. This way, you’ll be able to estimate how long it takes you to finish (or partially complete) a task, making it easier to estimate the time necessary for future sessions.
It’s worth noting that attaching Microsoft To-Do isn’t required. You may create a separate new Task if you just want to clock yourself while working on a task. To do so, click the three-dot button as indicated in the image below and fill in the required information.
MANAGE NOTIFICATIONS AND REMOVE DISTRACTIONS
However, if you are constantly distracted by a torrent of alerts, no clock or timer will be able to help you be productive.
To reduce the number of alerts, go to the left panel’s Settings and choose Change your notification settings.
This operation will launch the Windows Notification Center and Focus Assist applications.
While Notification shows a wider picture, Focus Assist allows you to customise all of your system’s notification settings. You can either establish time-based automated rules. You may also choose the names of the applications that are permitted.
It’s worth repeating that Focus Assist will not activate automatically when you begin a Focus Session. It just paves the way for more effective notification handling.
The objective is to tweak it such that you have as few distractions as possible when working.
CUSTOMIZE FOCUS SESSIONS SETTINGS
While there are not many, you can tailor some of the settings of Focus Sessions as per your choice.
For example, you can define the default Focus period and Break period through Settings.
Apart from that, there are other minor changes like changing the session tones.
If you prefer to listen to music from their smartphones, here’s where you can de-select the Spotify tile.
That is all there is to it. You’ll hear an audible alarm and receive a notice when the timer rolls down and it’s done, or it’s time for a break.
On Windows 11, the Focus sessions feature is integrated into the Clock app. It’s designed to help you boost your productivity by using the Pomodoro technique, which allows you to focus on one activity at a time while taking pauses as needed. It’s also worth noting that the functionality may be linked to your Spotify account. This allows you to listen to music or listen to podcasts for a defined length of time.
KEEP THE CLOCK TICKING
Focus Sessions are a good approach to Time Block natively for the time being. It allows you to create solo tasks as well as retrieve tasks straight from Microsoft To-Do. Furthermore, the Spotify Integration appears to be intriguing.
However, in order to concentrate on the subject at hand, you must eliminate any extraneous distractions. Configure both Focus Assist and Focus Sessions at the same time. Microsoft should introduce a native option to adjust alerts soon, perhaps.
You may alter the length of your concentrate time (including breaks) and pick a sound to play when your focus period (or break) ends by clicking the settings icon in the bottom left corner of the Clock app. Also, the Spotify and/or To Do tiles can be removed.
You may also choose a layout for the app and change your notification settings, such as which notifications should not be blocked out during a Focus assist session, on the Clock settings page.