Setting up a chime routine at work

A chime routine works at work when it fits around the day instead of fighting it. That means choosing the hours you can pause, picking a number of chimes you won't learn to ignore, and having a plan for meetings and shared spaces. This guide walks through the setup and suggests a two-week trial.

Choose the window

Set the timer's window to the hours when a ten-second pause is realistic. For an office job that might be 9:30 to 5:00. Leave out:

• the first half hour, when you're settling in and reading messages;
• the time you regularly present, teach or take customer calls;
• the end of the day, if that's when you rush to finish.

If your day has a long block of meetings, you can use two shorter windows instead: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Restart the timer with new times after lunch.

Choose the number

Fewer is better at the start. Four to six chimes across a workday means about one every one to two hours. That's often enough to interrupt autopilot several times a day and rare enough that each chime still feels like an event.

The timer splits the window into equal parts and places one chime at a random moment in each, so six chimes in an eight-hour window will be roughly an hour and twenty minutes apart on average, sometimes closer, never all together.

If you prefer a steadier rhythm, the "every hour" mode places a set number of chimes in each hour of the window. One per hour is plenty for most people.

After a week, adjust. If you're pausing easily, add one or two. If you notice the chime and think "not now" more often than not, cut back.

Choose the sound

The bell is generated in your browser, so there are no files to download. Three tones are available. The low tone is warmer and tends to blend into background noise; the high tone cuts through better in a busy room. Use the test button to choose a volume that you notice without jumping.

A few practical points:

• Headphones. In a shared office, wearing one earbud or using headphones keeps the chime private.
• Speaker volume. The timer can't play louder than your system volume. If you mute your computer, you'll miss the sound, though the on-screen prompt still appears.
• Notifications. Turn on browser notifications in the timer if the tab is often hidden behind other windows. Your browser will ask for permission the first time.

Keep the tab alive

The timer runs in a browser tab. Keep it open in its own window or pin the tab so you don't close it by accident. Browsers slow down background tabs to save power, so a chime may arrive up to a minute late. For a random pause that doesn't matter.

If the computer goes to sleep, the timer can't run. When it wakes, chimes that were missed by more than a few minutes are skipped instead of all playing at once.

Your settings are saved in your browser, so the next time you open the page they're already filled in. Press Start each morning.

Meetings and calls

You don't need to stop the timer for every meeting. If a chime sounds while someone else is talking, take one breath and keep listening. That's still a pause, and it often helps you hear what's being said.

If the sound would be audible on a call, either use headphones or press Stop for the meeting and Start afterwards. When you start again, the timer schedules chimes for the rest of the window, in proportion to the time that's left.

Shared spaces and etiquette

If coworkers can hear the chime, say what it is the first time. Most people are curious rather than annoyed. Keep the volume low, and don't expect anyone else to stop when it sounds.

For teams who want to try something together, a shared ritual tends to work better than a shared random chime: one slow breath at the start of each meeting, or a minute of quiet before a planning session. Make it optional, and never something people are judged on.

What to do in the pause

The prompt on screen suggests three steps: stop, soften, breathe. At work, that might look like:

1. Take your hands off the keyboard and let them rest.
2. Drop your shoulders and unclench your jaw.
3. Look away from the screen, at something far away if you can, and take one to three slow breaths.

The whole thing takes ten to thirty seconds. If you have a minute, try the one-minute breathing practice.

A two-week trial

Habits form better with a plan. Try this:

At the end of two weeks, keep what worked. Some people end up with three chimes a day; others want ten.

When a pause isn't possible

Some jobs don't allow a pause on cue: driving, surgery, operating machinery, live customer service. Don't use a random chime in these settings. Tie pauses to natural breaks instead, like the moment you park, wash your hands, or hang up a call.

And if work stress is constant or severe, a chime won't fix it. That's worth raising with a manager, an employee assistance program, or a health professional.

Ready to set it up? The timer is on the home page.

Questions