Focus Time overview

Clockwise helps you visualize how much time you have for focused work by automatically creating Focus Time events on your calendar. These dynamic calendar events are updated in real-time as your calendar changes, so you can always have an up-to-date view of your Focus Time. Syncing Focus Time means that your coworkers will see when you are in blocks of Focus Time. 

In this article, you'll learn:

• How to set up Focus Time holds
• How to set your Focus Time target
• Setting Focus Time preferences
• How to edit Focus Time holds
• How to delete Focus Time holds
• Focus Time FAQs

New to Clockwise?  Learn more here!

How to set up Focus Time holds

To configure your Focus Time settings to display your Focus Time events on your primary work calendar, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to your Settings
2. Click on "Smart Holds"
3. Scroll down to Schedule Focus Time on your Calendar?
4. Toggle the option "Automatically schedule Focus Time events on my calendar" on or off.

When you turn the toggle on "Automatically schedule Focus Time events on my calendar", you will see the below example on your calendar. Any changes made (adding notes etc) to the event details will be automatically removed the next calendar day. 

When you toggle off in settings, Clockwise will remove all Focus Time events from your calendar in the chrome extension.

Note: Please keep in my mind that regardless of your Focus Time settings (on or off), Clockwise will still schedule Focus Time suggestions on your calendar at getclockwise.com/app. If you are using the chrome extension, you will not see these suggested events. 

Set your Focus Time goal

Setting up your weekly Focus Time goals will allow you to protect the right amount of Focus Time per week while maintaining a sense of availability on your calendar. You have a choice between syncing all available Focus Time on your calendar or a maximum amount of hours per week.

To set your target:

• Click on the Clockwise Menu
• Click on "Settings"
• Go to the "Smart Holds" section
• Scroll to "Focus time" and "Schedule Focus Time on your calendar?"

Here you can decide between scheduling all your available time and setting a target.

When setting your Focus Time goal, try to pick a number that balances the time spent in meetings, how much Focus Time you need to complete your work, and how much open space you need to remain available for ad hoc meetings. Once you decide on your target, set it as the amount of Focus Time you want each week.  

Watch this video to learn more about setting the right Focus Time goal:

Setting your Focus Time preferences

Decide how you display your Focus Time on your calendar

When you set up your Focus Time events, you can choose to sync it or not to your primary calendar.

Customize if your Focus Time event appear as "Free" or "Busy"

When choosing to sync directly to your primary calendar, you'll want to decide your calendar availability during Focus Time:

• Free - this is ideal for users who want to provide and maintain their availability to external contacts, allowing them to book time with you.
• Busy - this is ideal for users who truly want to protect their Focus Time by limiting the sense of availability on their calendar to focus on their work.

Disabling alert notifications for Focus Time events

Event alerts can be great to remind you that it is time to switch modes.  If you'd like to maintain the notifications for Focus Time events, Clockwise will respect the Google settings that you have enabled from your GCal.

If you do not want an alert to go off reminding you about Focus Time, you can disable them by going to Menu > Settings > Focus Time, lunch, and travel time and choose Off for Focus Time event notifications:

How to customize your Focus Time holds

Has a coworker ever scheduled over your Focus Time making it completely disappear? Of course, they have, it's hard to completely avoid. If you could only communicate what you're going to use that Focus Time specifically for, your colleague might think twice before scheduling over it. You can now customize your Focus Time Smart Holds to make sure the duration, scheduled time, and title are all specific to exactly what you need. 

Any time you edit a Focus Time Smart Hold in your calendar, Clockwise will respect these edits and avoid automatically updating them throughout the week. Customize Focus Time in the following ways:

• Edit the title to communicate what you're working on
• Update the duration if Clockwise synced more time than you need
• Drag and drop the timing to ensure it starts when you're ready to focus
• Invite your coworkers for pairing or jam sessions 
• Update the description to keep yourself accountable for what you're going to use the time for

Deleting individual Focus Time events

Chrome extension:

To delete a Smart Hold, click on the event in your calendar, then click on the "Delete this Hold" button from the Event Details view in the chrome extension.  If you delete the blocks from any other location, they will be recreated.

Web App:

If you're using the web app, find the link to settings through the event details.

If you have any questions or feedback, please email us at support@getclockwise.com.