What's the difference between a Focus Session and Focus Work?

What's a Focus Session*?

A Focus Session is a period of time you choose to dedicate to Focus Work on your computer. Focus Sessions can be as long–or as short–as you'd like. Clicking on the Focus button in your Assistant will take you to optional Focus Session prep + warmups, and then off you go. You'll be able to enter in what you'll be working on during a Focus Session, choose your Focus Session length, block level, Spotify playlist and join other Focus Buddies through Workfrom.

During a Focus Session, websites and desktop apps you've ranked as Personal Activities are blocked. Activities that you've scored as Focus Work will count toward your Focus Work goal. You can find details about Focus Sessions here.

Your Focus Sessions Goal Report will show your average Focus Session compared with an average work hour. It will also show how much Focus Work and Other Work you've completed, as well as your average number of shifts to distractions (Personal Activities) and communication.

PLEASE NOTE: Activities recorded during a Focus Session are still broken down into Focus Work and Other Work based on how you've ranked them. Work does not automatically become Focus Work when it is recorded during a Focus Session.

What's Focus Work?

Focus Work includes activities that are high-impact and mentally demanding—work that typically requires long stretches of uninterrupted focus. Focus Work is determined by the activities you ranked as Focus Work on your Activities page or by our default settings.

Your Focus Work activities will count toward your Focus Work goal and be shown in your Focus Work Goal Report and Assistant as a progress bar.

PLEASE NOTE: RescueTime records only active use, which is defined as keyboard or mouse movement. If you go more than 5 minutes without using the mouse or keyboard, RescueTime stops logging, erases those last 5 minutes from the logs, and waits until there is further input to resume logging. As a result, there will almost always be less time recorded in RescueTime than clock time, sometimes significantly so. Because of this, your Focus Work time may be less than expected.

* RescueTime Premium features only