FindFocus

With the omnipresent and incredible devices and all-life-encompassing connectivity with which we're surrounded nowadays, the fact that the new world currency is now our attention is a concept that's not that far-fetched.

Basically, in this day and age, we're prone to distractions more than ever before and, we all know how distractions lead to procrastination and procrastination leads to... well, you get the idea.

If staying focused while working on your computer, or on your Mac, is a real issue for you then here's one of the best, if not the best, solution that comes in the form of an interesting app, appropriately dubbed FindFocus.

We'll skip all the boring stuff by saying that it helps you block out various distractions to help you be as productive as possible, just like all apps of this sort manage or struggle to do.

But the thing that sets apart FindFocus from other such utilities is the way it does all of the above. "Thoroughly" would probably be the best word to describe it. Before we go into the real geeky stuff, we recommend you take a few minutes of your time and glance over the video tutorials provided by the developer on the app's official website.

We admit, it might seem a tad bit intimidating at first, as the app boasts a surprising amount of useful features like all sorts of focus mode protections (a wide variety of protection modes, a delay discounter, a Pomodoro timer and a random character protection, break reminders and automated breaks), as well as support for groups, profile descriptions, wildcard syntax, exceptions (blacklist and whitelist sections), and so forth.

But, and it's a big but, as with all things, you can use only the basic functions and gradually "build" the learning curve from there. For instance, start off by creating a profile and going through the basic wizard to design a custom website + app blocking configuration. Don't go for the self-explanatory Fort Knox protection mode right off the bat, but rather choose a more flexible one until you see what's what.

From this point onward, test the profile and, if all things are good, start experimenting with more advanced features like the sequencer, configure flexible break plans and even with the uber-useful scheduler, which are not all that difficult to comprehend.

Granted, FindFocus is not exactly a looker, with its non-impressive plain-grey UI that could be a bit better, especially at differentiating various sections more clearly. And, yes, a few customization features would have also made it more appealing, if you will.

At the end of the day, though, that's definitely not a deal-breaker as, let's not forget, the goal here is getting the job done. Having said all that, what we have here then is a fine example of what an app of this sort should be like. Simple enough to be used even for the lightest of jobs and versatile and powerful enough to suit the needs of users with hardcore work patterns and teeth-grinding deadlines.