Focus blocks: how long should each one run?
Alternating focus and rest starts with choosing a block length. Twenty-five minutes is the best known figure, but breaking off mid-problem can cost more than the rest is worth, while ninety minutes may outlast your attention. This page fixes a focus-to-break ratio and lets you change the block length to see how differently the same day gets carved up.
Set the ratio to five parts focus and one part break and a fifty-minute block earns a ten-minute rest. That cycle is then fitted into the time you have, counting how many blocks go in, and if you set a long-break interval the page reports which blocks the long breaks land after. A check line adds net focus time, short breaks, long breaks and unused time back up against the total you entered.
The table takes several candidate block lengths so you can compare block counts and net focus time side by side. This page designs the blocks only; it does not assign which subject or chapter goes in which block. Short break lengths come straight out of the ratio, so they can carry a decimal.
Frequently Asked Questions
There is no single right answer. You can enter a widely used combination as it stands, or lower the break side if your attention holds longer. This page shows how a ratio carves up your day rather than recommending one.
Because fewer blocks fit than the long-break interval calls for. If a long break is due every four blocks but only three fit in the time available, none ever arrives and the page says so instead.
When the next focus block, or the break that follows it, will not fit whole inside the total, the session stops there and the remainder is reported as unused. Shortening the block length a little often reduces it.