Howdy, howdy, squiders. I spent today patching and then painting the closet (we found a solution that basically included buying random things from IKEA, and we’ll see how that goes once we put everything together) which is, well, what it is. We decided on a dark forest green color, which is pretty, but may or may not look good in the end once there’s clothes and organizers and whatnot in there.
I also started my next SkillShare class (about points of view and tenses) and had coffee with a friend, so it wasn’t all house work.
Anyway, I had to go to IKEA yesterday to pick up the pieces we ordered, as well as track down some of other pieces that we couldn’t do for pick-up for some reason (white drawers could be added to the pick-up order, but the gray ones immediately next to them in the warehouse could not. I don’t even know.). While I was there, I picked up something I’d been eying for a while.
It’s called a Klockis.
(IKEA item names always make me laugh. Are these real words in Swedish? Or are they just made up words that sound vaguely Swedish for marketing purposes?)
The Klockis is a square clock that has four modes, depending on which side is up. One mode is a clock, which also keeps track of day and year (2013 was the default, so apparently they’ve been sitting around for a bit). One mode is a thermometer, which can be in Celsius or Fahrenheit. One mode is an alarm. And the last mode is a timer.
I bought it for the timer.
You see, the bigger, mobile one has had a Klockis for a while. And I’d noted that the timer saves its time. So, say, if you set it to 10 minutes, every time you go into timer mode, it starts a 10-minute timer. No need to reset it every time.
I’ve long been looking for a timer that has a set time it counts down. Most timers have to be set each time, and/or they tick while they work (like an egg timer). I’ve used online timers occasionally, but them being on the computer, which is also where I’m working, tends to make them get in the way.
I’d looked previously online for set-time timers, but they’re rare and almost always out of stock, as well as being expensive. So when I realized that the Klockis would reset its time consistently, it seemed like a great solution.
You see, I have two working modes. One is super focused. This is a great mode! But the problem is then I don’t move for a few hours, and studies recently have consistently shown that sitting for too long is bad for you. The other mode is super distracted, where I work for a few minutes, mess around for a few minutes, work on something else for a few minutes, etc. Things get done in this mode, but not efficiently, and I still normally don’t move very often.
So the idea is that I set my timer, and I work (on just one thing) for the duration of that timer, and then I switch to something else, or take a break, or remember to stand up and stretch.
I set it up yesterday, and I tried it out this morning while I was working on my SkillShare class. It’s perfect. Works just like I hoped, and I got quite a bit done.
It’s always nice when you find a tool that works. Here’s to hoping it helps me be focused and healthy going forward.
Have any tools you’ve found useful, squiders?
