The Five-Minute Anchor

You know that feeling? You look up, and an hour has vanished.

You were supposed to be writing that one email, and somehow you're now an expert on the migratory patterns of the Arctic Tern. It's not a lack of willpower; it's just... drift. And if you've got an ADHD-ish brain like mine, that drift is the default setting.

I'd read about rigid systems like the Pomodoro Technique[1], with its strict 25-minute blocks and scheduled breaks. It sounded great on paper, but in practice it felt like another thing I could fail at.

A timer would blare, I'd hit snooze, and then feel weirdly guilty for "doing productivity wrong." The structure became the enemy.

So I tried something different.

Instead of using a timer as a hard stop, I turned it into a gentle nudge.

I set a timer for just five minutes.

The goal wasn't to force a break or to work perfectly for that time. It was just a check-in. When the five minutes were up, I didn't have to stop what I was doing. All I had to do was notice.

A quiet, flashing light was enough to ask:

"Are you still on the boat, or have you drifted out to sea?"

Most of the time, that tiny question is enough. It's a small anchor in the day. It doesn't stop the storm of distraction, but it keeps the boat from drifting miles away without you realizing it.

And for my ADHD brain, that makes a real difference: fewer lost afternoons, fewer "what did I even do today?" evenings.

How I Use the Five-Minute Anchor

Here's how this looks in practice:

• Tool: I use a simple timer app with the sound off and a subtle visual alert.

• Interval: 5 minutes, repeating.

• Rule: When it goes off, I don't have to change tasks. I just answer one question:

  • "Is what I'm doing right now what I intended to be doing?"

If the answer is yes → keep going.

If the answer is no → I gently steer back:

• Close the stray tab.

• Reopen the doc I meant to work on.

• Write the next sentence, not plan the next three hours.

No drama. No "you failed the system." Just a small course correction.

Try This Today

If you want to experiment with this:

1. Pick one task you've been avoiding (that email, that doc, that form).

2. Set a silent 5-minute repeating timer.

3. Every time it goes off, just ask:
   "Am I still on the boat?"
   If not, nudge yourself back.

Do this for one hour.

By the end, you might not feel "perfectly productive," but you'll almost certainly feel less drift—and a little more in control of your own attention.

References

[1] Cirillo, Francesco. The Pomodoro Technique.