COVID-19: Free Work-From-Home Resources for Focus and Calm
In a period of a few short months, our lives and routines have been drastically uprooted. Finding a healthy balance with screens has never been harder. Below are a few free resources and tools that can help you adjust.
Free Freedom Premium for COVID-19 responders and researchers
We are providing grants of Freedom subscriptions to scientific researchers working on COVID-19, and any frontline medical personnel dealing with COVID-19. These professionals deserve our support in this challenging time.
Whether you use Freedom to do focused work, or just decompress by turning off the noise, we’re glad we could help in some small way.
To apply, please send an email to [email protected] with the subject “COVID-19 Grant” and a small explanation of the work you’re doing. We’ll turn that around and send you an upgrade code within one business day.
Thank you for the work you are doing from all of us at Freedom.
Free browser extensions to help you stay focused
Our free Chrome extensions (also available on Firefox and Opera) have quickly become popular favorites. Get them now and keep your web browsing under control.
When you open a distracting website, Pause creates a gentle interruption by displaying a calming green screen. After pausing for five seconds (adjustable), you can choose to continue to the site, remain on the green screen with the site temporarily blocked, or close the tab.
Limit is an extension that allows you to set time limits for distracting websites. When you approach your limit, Limit gently notifies you your time is almost up, so you can wrap up. And when you’ve reached your limit, you’ll be directed to Freedom’s calming Green Screen when you try to visit a limited website.
Insight helps you understand how you spend your time online, so you can improve your habits. Insight provides a simple report so you can see where you’re spending your time. You can drill down into individual sites and see your daily time on each site.
Remote work doesn’t have to be alone work
Missing the office, the energy of co-workers, and the focus you have in the collaborative environment? You’re not alone, and fortunately we have some friends who are doing some cool stuff to help you out. Here are two free opportunities to enjoy some live companionship while you work, and even learn new deep work habits.
The good folks at Caveday are offering a free Cave – a 3.5 hour work session over Zoom. Facilitated by a trained Cave Guide, you’ll engage in deep work, have energizing breaks, and get more work done that you ever imagined.
Click the video above to jump into a 30 minute Brain.fm work session. Follow the Brain.fm Channel here, and stay up-to-date with their YouTube content.
Sounds to enhance your environment
The thing about most of our work-from-home situations is that we don’t really have any options. We must stay home, for the good of ourselves and others. What’s missing is the work environment that we’re used to. Ambient sounds help us feel a sense of community, and can increase our focus and immersion in our work.
If you’re used to the hum of co-workers or like to work in a café, plug in your headphones and immerse yourself in some of the sounds below. If you need to relax, the birds and windchimes provide some soothing natural ambience.
Want to work in a park? Here’s an hour of nature sounds from the U.S. National Park Service.
We’ve also included a one-hour-twenty-two minute musical masterwork, the Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach. It may just inspire you to new heights of creativity – dive into some deep work and give it a play.
And if you’re a Freedom user, you’ll find an assortment of international café sounds on your Freedom dashboard.
Read about productivity-related issues
Our mission is simple: develop software that helps people focus on what matters most. We believe that technology should improve your quality of life, not automate living. It’s not about doing more. It’s about doing more of what makes you happy.
