Tech Tip: Take a Five

Take a Five landing page with social media icons on the botton

Take a Five is a tool that I recently found (Although, it’s been around for a few years.) to help stay productive. As a fellow human, I occasionally need a break. However, it can also be easy to lose track of time while going down a rabbit hole of Wikipedia articles, YouTube videos, or social media feeds. This website/Chrome extension makes it easy to take a break for a set period of time, then get back to what you were doing. You can also use it to help you stay focused: just choose how much time you have to get something done on a specific website and you’ll be forced to stick to it. Overwise, *poof!* it’s gone.

What are other techniques or tools that you use to stay focused?


Have a cool app, tool, or tech tip you’d like to share?  Contact Chase Masters. Please note that Tech Tips are personal recommendations and might not be officially endorsed or supported by U-M. 

Author: Chase Masters, University Library

Chase's role at the Taubman Health Sciences Library includes managing technology projects and resources, consulting with faculty to effectively incorporate technology into their curriculum, supervising staff, serving in the HS-STEM Administration Unit, and identifying and building partnerships with instructional technology units throughout the university community. You may reach him at mastersc@umich.edu.

2 thoughts on “Tech Tip: Take a Five

  1. Ken Caldwell, ITS Communications

    Thanks for sharing, Chase. I use simple browser extensions to set timers when I need to stay on task, but also to allow myself short breaks, using the Pomodoro Technique.

    Using Chrome, there’s a plugin called Marinara: Pomodoro Assistant:
    https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/marinara-pomodoro%C2%AE-assist/lojgmehidjdhhbmpjfamhpkpodfcodef

    On Firefox, an equivalent is Tomato Clock:
    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tomato-clock/

    1. Chase Masters, University Library Post author

      Thanks for the feedback and information, Ken! I haven’t used these extensions, but have tried the Pomodoro technique here and there using other apps. It’s on my list as a potential upcoming Tech Tip, so I’ll be sure to review the ones that you included.

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