I am fortunate to be a part of several active listservs, which allow me to learn from my amazingly generous colleagues each and every day. Today, I learned something that is simply too good not to share—particularly with exams on the horizon.

Professor Mimi Samuel, Associate Professor of Lawyering Skills and Co-Director of the Legal Writing Program at Seattle University School of Law, shared Focusmate https://www.focusmate.com/, a tool for beating procrastination and distraction when working from home. Professor Samuel referred to the website as a “game changer” and explained how it works:

The premise is simple:  You sign up for slots in 50 minute increments and are paired with another person who you connect with via the site’s video chat. At the beginning of the session, you greet your partner and you each spend under 60 seconds laying out your goals for the session. You work with the video on (though most people mute) and at the end of the session, you check in on how you did and give each other a few words of encouragement. You can do three sessions per week for free or pay $5 a month for unlimited access.

Professor Samuel has done over 200 sessions and has been paired with people from all over the world who are engaged in all types of work and study. She explained that the website also has a Facebook group “with a supportive community that discusses issues relating to productivity and working at home.”

I have explored the website myself and watched YouTube videos about the tool’s effectiveness. I have likewise read reviews attesting to the website’s many benefits. What seems to make Focusmate so beneficial is that it forces you to be accountable. Just as if you were a workout partner, you don’t want to let someone down by not showing up. And, if it works for you and you’d like unlimited sessions, it’s just $5 a month and you can cancel at any time. That means you can use it to get through exams, with the entire exam study period costing you just $5.

But Focusmate isn’t the only show in town. There are other websites, like Social Pomodoro http://socialpomodoro.com/, that are very similar but operate using a different time interval.  In both Focusmate and Social Pomodoro, you can arrange to study with a friend or a group, as opposed to a stranger.

My recommendation is to try working with a friend in one session and working with a stranger in another. My intuition says that working with a fellow law student may lead to chat during the session, diminishing your productivity on a certain goal like finishing a writing project or an outline. If you are truly looking for distraction-free productivity, a stranger may be your best bet. Think of it as your virtual law library or your community library’s quiet study room.

Finally, if you are uncomfortable with the idea of working with others, you can always use tools like the Chrome extension Motion https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/motion-prevent-distractio/nidganghegonkcecgjgpppihfknjobec?hl=en or the Mac app Focus https://apps.apple.com/us/app/focus-time-management/id777233759?mt=12 to intercept or eliminate distractions.

Me? I’m trying Focusmate to grade papers this week. Use the comments to let us know what you think or share a method that works well for you!