50 minute timer

Timer

50:00

Ends with a chime

AmbientNova Sounds · plays here, under the timer

Open in Spotify to follow the playlist. Not logged in? The player plays 30-second previews.

Nova Focus Plus: Nova Sounds' full catalogue inside the timer, no Spotify needed. Coming soon. Join the waitlist

Ambient

More sounds: pink, white and green noise

What fits in 50 minutes

Fifty minutes is long enough to load a problem into your head and still make progress before a break:

  • One chapter of a first draft.
  • A feature or a bug fix in code you know.
  • A long problem set in a familiar subject.
  • A lecture slot, or a meeting that should not run to the full hour.

A common pairing is a 10-minute break, so each cycle takes exactly one hour. The 50/10 timer does that automatically.

Day math: six 50-minute blocks with 10-minute breaks take 5 hours 50 minutes, which leaves room for lunch and email in an 8-hour day.

Want breaks built in?

This length is the focus half of the 50/10 timer: 50 minutes of focus, then a 10 minute break, on repeat, with a 30 minute break after every 4 blocks.

See every timer and method, or set any length you like.

Other lengths

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Questions

About the 50 minute timer. Missing something? Write to [email protected].

It leaves ten minutes for a proper break inside each hour, which keeps long days sustainable and makes planning simple: one block per hour.

Something that stays in the background: instrumental music, ambient sound or brown noise at low volume. Lyrics compete with reading and writing.