How to Set a Daily Limit and Focus Schedule in Intention

Updated

Intention is a Chrome and Firefox extension that pauses distracting sites before you open them, then asks how long you want to unlock them. To control your overall usage, you set a daily limit that tracks time across all distracting sites, build a streak for each day you stay under that limit, and customize which days and times you want to stay focused. You'll need the extension installed and added to your browser first; the site offers "Add to Chrome" and notes it is "Also available on Firefox."

What Intention does before you browse

The core loop has three steps, as described on the site:

  1. Stop before you start — when you visit a distracting site, Intention intervenes "for a chance to change your mind."
  2. Set a time limit — to continue, you tell Intention "how long you'd like to unlock distracting sites."
  3. Reclaim your focus — when your time limit runs out, Intention pauses your browsing "to restore your focus."

The daily limit and schedule features sit on top of this loop: they govern how much total time you're allowed across distracting sites each day, and when the intervention is active at all.

Set a daily limit

The daily limit is the cap on your combined time across all distracting sites, not a per-site cap. The site describes it as: "Keep track of the time you spend across all distracting sites."

To use it:

  • Input: Decide a realistic total — for example, 30 minutes a day across social media and news sites combined.
  • Action: Set that number as your daily limit in the extension.
  • Expected result: Intention tracks your cumulative time on distracting sites against that number, so a few short unlocks add up rather than resetting per visit.

A practical starting point is to log a normal day first and set the limit slightly below it, then tighten it over a week. The unlock prompt from the three-step loop is what feeds this total, so every "how long would you like to unlock" choice counts toward the cap.

Build a streak

The streak is a light accountability mechanic: "Watch your streak grow for every day you stay under your limit."

  • Input: Your daily limit from the step above.
  • Action: Stay at or under it for a day.
  • Expected result: The streak increments; a day over the limit breaks it.

Because the streak is tied to the daily limit, it only works once a limit exists. If you want the streak to mean something, keep the limit achievable — a limit you blow through every day produces a streak of zero and no useful signal.

Customize your focus schedule

The schedule controls the days and times you want to stay focused: "Choose the days and times you'd like to stay focused."

  • Input: The days and time windows when distractions are most costly — for example, weekday mornings during deep work.
  • Action: Select those days and hours in the schedule settings.
  • Expected result: Intention applies your focus setup during those windows, so the intervention matches when you actually need it rather than running uniformly all week.

A common approach is to align the schedule with your work hours and leave evenings looser, so the extension doesn't feel like a wall you fight against. The schedule and the daily limit are complementary: the schedule decides when the guardrails apply, the limit decides how much total time you get.

Verify it's working

  • Visit a site you've marked as distracting and confirm the intervention appears before the page loads.
  • Choose a short unlock time and confirm browsing pauses again when it expires.
  • Check that time spent on a second distracting site counts toward the same daily total.
  • After a day under your limit, confirm the streak increased; after a day over, confirm it reset.
  • Outside your scheduled focus windows, confirm the behavior matches what you configured.

Common snags

  • Setting the limit before knowing your baseline. You'll either set it too high to matter or too low to keep. Measure first.
  • Treating the limit as per-site. It tracks time "across all distracting sites," so three 10-minute unlocks on three sites consume 30 minutes of one budget.
  • Forgetting the schedule governs timing, not volume. A generous schedule with a tight limit still caps you; a strict schedule with no limit still lets long unlocks through during off-hours.
  • Expecting it to work outside Chrome or Firefox. The site lists only those two browsers.

Reviews on the Chrome Web Store echo the design intent. Pranab Sachi notes that unlike on/off blockers, "you can set little 'breaks' if needed and set your intentions before browsing a page," and Satyajeet Pal values "a visceral reminder of the time I'm spending on distracting sites." That framing is the best guide to setup: pick a limit you can live under, schedule the hours that matter, and let the streak show whether the numbers are honest.