Blog

Every year, we celebrate Global Handwashing Day at Time Timer.

Each year brings something new to the table, as you can see in our previous blogs on the topic. For example, last year’s (2021) Global Handwashing Day focused on the theme of “Our Future Is at Hand — Let’s Move Forward Together”, a timely theme given the pandemic circumstances.

Global Handwashing Day 2022 has another theme on offer, which has already been featured in our title: Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene. One of the priorities related to this theme is introducing proper hand washing techniques in many areas, from schools to healthcare facilities, workplaces, and beyond. Basically, any public setting where there is a chance of many people meeting together—and possibly spreading germs.

Practicing good hand hygiene in institutional and public settings can be a key to keeping the population healthy, whether there is a pandemic going on or not.

Proper Handwashing

Proper handwashing is unlikely to resemble what most people get in the habit of doing before sitting down for a meal or after using the bathroom.

It involves more than just a splash of water, or squirting soap on your hand and then furiously scrubbing for a little bit.

The process, as outlined by the CDC, ought to take 30 seconds.

Teaching this method to schoolchildren, employees, and in any public setting can be instrumental in creating healthier environments for all.

How the Time Timer WASH Can Help People Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene

Our Time Timer WASH is specially-designed to offer instructions for proper hand washing for users of all age groups and abilities.

With a hands-free start (simply wave your hand in front of the timer), users will have an easy visual countdown to keep track of their hand washing. This hands-free feature makes it ideal for public settings, so people will not get their pre-wash germs onto it.

This can not only be good for introducing proper hand washing technique to kids in school, but it can also make it easier for adults as well, who will not have to engage in a mental count as they wash.

Our Time Timer WASH models come in a few forms. Our complete package includes the Time Timer WASH and a 10oz soap dispenser, which can save you the worry of having to install a soap dispenser.

However, if you already have a soap dispenser, you can spring for the Time Timer WASH timer, which is smaller and more portable.

No matter what Time Timer WASH you go for, you are sure to see an improvement in hand washing habits in your school, workplace, or wherever you install it!

There are many things about ADHD that contribute to being a wonderful nurse. For example, individuals with ADHD are likely to have high levels of empathy, they are spontaneous, high levels of courage, the ability to hyper-focus on a task, and amazing attention to detail. Unfortunately, there are also struggles that come with being a nurse with ADHD such as lack of general focus, inattention, and poor time management. As a nurse one of my biggest struggles has been time management. When I was hired into the ICU as a new nurse I was required to work for three months on a medical surgical floor first. I laugh when I recall crying in the storage closet every day feeling completely overwhelmed with feelings of inefficiency trying to manage all the tasks. All eight of my patients needed things at the same time that they felt were most important ranging from pain medicine, medication for high blood pressure, a walk, a bed bath, a turn, fresh water, ordering lunch, and countless others.  

Fast forward nine months and I began a job in a nationally ranked Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit. This position was vastly different than the 10 bed Medical ICU in the small town I had been working in. The struggle with time management only became more intense. Whereas in the medical ICU it was required to assess the patient every four hours, input and output every two hours, and medication management, the Neurological/Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit had a much more regimented set of monitoring which included hourly neurological assessments, the amount of fluid they received as well as the amount the patients put out (through surgical drains, urine, etc) every hour, drawing labs at a certain time, changing the rate of continuous infusions to keep patients alive, charting, updating and educating families, changing surgical dressings, monitoring the pressure inside the head hourly, and many more important tasks.  

All the tasks on my “to do” list felt like trying to paint a multidimensional piece of art with the same color grey. Having timed tasks that coincided with urgent tasks starts from the moment I clock in. Trying to organize the mountain of tasks heightened my anxiety and I found I would lose track of time as I was focused on a particular task at hand.  

Once the tasks were (somehow) complete as a nurse I must take time to chart the information for doctors to see on the computer so they can recall it at any point. Charting has always been my bane of nursing because there is always something else I could be doing that (to me) felt more important.  

All nurses have what they call “a brain” which is a sheet of paper that they take notes about the patient that they deem important. I developed a report sheet that worked perfectly for my ADHD mind. Not only did it have defined boxes for each body system, but it has a table at the bottom to put tasks, when those tasks are due as well as the important numbers that needed to be documented throughout the shift (Input/output, intracranial pressure, increase rate of tube feeds, and other similar notations). Once I began using the sheet I created I gained the ability to see the tasks in a more organized way of priority. Not to mention the way it was written on this sheet gave me the ability to use recall that “something” was due at a certain time.  

There have been other things I have learned through the years to help with my time as a nurse. I have learned to set alarms if something needs to be reassessed like pain and blood sugar. Not only do I use alarms as reminders to do a task, but I’ve also found it helpful to set them to remind me to move on from a task. We have the ability to become hyperfocused and get lost in doing something without realizing the amount of time that has passed, so setting an alarm to notify us five minutes before we need to move on to something new is very useful for ADHD Nurse brains. I’ve also started using the Time Timer Watch for things such as IV push medication that I have to administer over a certain period of time like tPA and Lasix. It is easy to second guess exactly what second you began your 60 second countdown, or the exact minute for the four minute IV push. I love having the ability to set the exact time and visually see the time changing. There are many things to overcome as a nurse with ADHD, especially considering our natural struggles with time. Thinking outside the box and utilizing methods and devices that work for us can be empowering as we start to become nothing short of incredible in our field. 

About the Author:

Jami Fregeau is a Registered Nurse who creates educational and supportive content for neurodivergent individuals through her podcast, The Neurodivergent Nurse and lnstagram account. Jami knows personally the difficulties of living and thriving with ADHD. Her diagnosis came in December 2020 at the age of 36. She spent most of her life struggling with social anxiety, lack of self-esteem, and self doubt unknowing much of it was due to being neurodivergent with undiagnosed ADHD. This became a catalyst in creating a safe and welcoming community for individuals to ask questions and find likeness in shared experiences. Jami is nationally certified as a Critical Care Registered Nurse and been awarded North Carolina's Great 100 Nurses. She facilitates diversity education through her local hospital educating Physicians, Nurses, and other staff the importance of recognizing inherent biases and inclusion in professional and day-to-day practices.

Putting a New Twist on an Iconic Product 

Our Time Timer visual timers have been a staple in many classrooms, offices, and homes ever since we released the Time Timer Original.  

Since then, we have released a wide variety of Time Timer visual timers, each one fit for different needs and contexts. This includes our Time Timer WASH, which has helped children everywhere learn how to correctly and effectively wash their hands, which was not only helpful through the COVID-19 pandemic, but continues to be a great tool for parents and educators looking to decrease the spread of germs among children. 

As you may be able to tell by now, we are committed to finding the most innovative and helpful ways to make time management easier for our customers, which is why we are excited to highlight the Time Timer TWIST, which puts a digital “twist” on the Time Timer!  

The Time Timer TWIST: Fun, Functional, and Useful In Any Setting 

In addition to a time range from 1 minute to 90 minutes, this particular visual timer has a host of features that makes it an outstanding time management tool.  

A magnetic back makes the Time Timer TWIST attachable to all sorts of metallic surfaces, from the refrigerator at home to the whiteboard in the classroom.  

The Time Timer TWIST offers a no-noise countdown (meaning, you will not hear any distracting “ticking”) that ends with a continuous alert.  

This continuous alert will go on for 1 minute, unless you stop it with the Play/Pause button.  
 

How to Use the Time Timer TWIST 

Though the Time Timer TWIST is high-tech, it is easy to use for all ages.  

An outer ring around this circular timer allows you to easily set the timer by twisting the ring.  

Simply twist to the desired time, press play, and watch the digital tick marks run down. The time itself is shown numerically in the center of the timer.  

If you need to pause the timer, you can press the Play/Pause button and take a break as needed.  

For an example of a fun use for the Time Timer TWIST, read our blog on working out with the Time Timer TWIST.  

Time Timer TWIST, Now in New Colors!  

If you are interested in buying the Time Timer TWIST, we are happy to announce that we have a great selection of colors that you can choose from, ranging from Original Red, Pale Shale Gray, Dreamsicle Orange, and Lake Day Blue.  

No matter your style, we are sure you will find a Time Timer TWIST that works for you!  

Buy the Time Timer TWIST and Other Products from Time Timer 

If you are interested in the Time Timer TWIST, be sure to check out our other special edition timers from Time Timer for more fun twists on your visual timer.  

Have any more questions for us about the Time Timer Twist or other products? Contact us on our website or through our email, support@timetimer.com.  

 
You can also check out our support page, which answers frequently asked questions.

There is nothing worse than a busy day of meetings where they all seem to go long, and you don’t get the goal of the meeting accomplished. 

With a Time Timer visual timer and these 4 tips, your meetings will run smoother and be more productive – Both in the office and virtually.  

1. Set a strict overall time limit for the meeting.

Make sure there is a clear expectation of how long the meeting will last and everyone knows it. To stay accountable, our Time Timer PLUS 120 Minute Make Time Edition gives your group a visual cue that time is slipping away. It’s also small and portable, so one team member can hold it up or set it on a nearby desk. It also is a great size to place in view of the camera during virtual meetings so the whole team can see. Plus, a slew of tech folks endorse Time Timer for better meetings, including Jake Knapp, who spent a decade at Google and Google Ventures. 

2. Start and end on time; no matter what.

Make it a practice to start the visual timer when the meeting is supposed to start—even if everyone isn’t present. This puts the onus on individual team members to show up on time. 

Take the same approach to ending the meeting: Stop the discussion as soon as time ends. These hard starts and stops help your team build the muscles they need to be efficient, to-the-point and respectful of each other’s time. 

3. Give each speaker a time limit.

Keeping a daily stand-up short requires an effective way to share time among your team members. Depending on the topics being covered, ensure each team member has a set amount of time to each participate in the conversation. This pre-determined limit adds focus and urgency. 

Use the Time Timer PLUS 120 Minute Make Time Edition or Time Timer MOD Sprint Edition as a visual guide for each person, so they don’t lose track of time. If someone goes over, agree on a short, polite way to call time. This might be “thank you, Jeff” or simply saying “time.” If your meeting is virtual, you can simply set the Time Timer in view of the camera so all the participants can see.  

4. Save time for a brief discussion of any follow-ups.

Set aside the last 5-to-10 minutes of the meeting to plan for any needed follow-ups. These are short and sweet communications, and often, offers of help. 

For instance, “Mike, I’d like to talk to you about your challenges with Sharepoint. I had a similar problem last month.” Or, “Janet, I think your work overlaps with mine and there might be a way for us to collaborate.” Then leave it to individual team members to continue those discussions outside the meeting. 

Meetings are a great time for teams to come together, work collaboratively, and share ideas. They are best when they are productive and efficient. Try these 4 tips next meeting to help keep your team on track! Time Timer can also be a great gift for your boss :) 

For children with cognitive differences, time perception can be a challenge.  

Many of us take time for granted, having become so used to the system of seconds, minutes, and hours, as well as their typical symbolic representation on traditional clock-hand clocks, or as numbers on our phone. When we look at the top right of our phone or laptop screen and check the time, we tend to immediately “understand” what, say, 1:30 PM means.  

We will not launch into a deep discussion about the philosophy of time here, but we could easily say that time perception is indeed subjective in many ways. To understand what we mean, just think of the phrase “Time flies when you are having fun.” Or, think of, say, doing a bunch of paperwork, which can make seconds feel like hours, and you will feel the truth in the idea that time perception can be subjective.  

Just as fun and boredom can alter how we experience seconds and minutes and hours, so can confusion and anxiety, which are common feelings that children with autism feel when having to deal with a time-sensitive task.  
 

Why Individuals with Autism Struggle with Time Perception 

An individual with autism sometimes struggles when it comes to telling time because of their learning differences in areas such as working memory or planning, making it hard to remember passing durations during a given interval.  

In addition to the above-mentioned problems that individuals with autism face in time perception, they also typically have multitasking issues, which can make it doubly hard to perform a task that requires you to have a precise idea of just “how long” is passing. 

A reduced ability to recreate time intervals is one of the key setbacks here, so being able to easily remember when you began a task, and how long it has been since starting, is something that a useful time-telling tool or strategy will offer for a child with autism.  

One way to do this is to help children with autism visualize time passing, which we will go into below.  

Visualizing Time: How the Time Timer Can Help a Child with Autism’s Time Perception 

Being able to immediately “feel” time is something very valuable for a child with autism, who struggles with the task of having to mentally grasp just what it means for five minutes to pass. We here at Time Timer have just the tool for accomplishing that.  

What makes the Time Timer visual timer such a success with a child with autism is its visual representation of time with our patented red disk that elapses as the set time, which in the Time Timer Original 8” allows for up to an hour, the red disk like a fraction that represents time.  

When a child with autism sees just how much of the red disk has elapsed since starting, they can readily feel “how much” time has passed and is left in the activity. It is a visual communication that is not told in the language of numbers and digits but rather in a more immediate and universally-understandable symbol, where less work is needed to remember “how much” time has passed in each interval.  

However, we also have Time Timer products that cover other durations of time. For example, our Time Timer PLUS can go up to 120 minutes, and is additional more portable for children on the move.  

Children with autism can also have a Time Timer visual timer readily available everywhere they go with the Time Timer Watch, which not only tells the time in a visual way, but offers a Time Timer that is digitally represented and can be set up to 99 minutes, along with a timed alert feature.  
 

The Best Time-Telling Tool for Children with Autism  

Our Time Timer visual timer is the best time-telling tool for individuals with autism, which is a claim that has been recognized by many professionals and organizations involved in the autism community, such as the Autism Awareness Center.  

For more uses of the Time Timer in special needs, click here.  

If you are interested in other Time Timer visual timers, check out our page for them here.  

Any other questions? Be sure to contact us if so!  

Ever been on a run or in a workout and wanted quickly and easily check how long you’ve been exercising? Or wish you had a simple productivity-increasing tool that you can conveniently keep on your wrist at all times? How about a repeating timer that you can keep on you to remind you of important tasks such as taking medications?  

Or do you or a loved one have ADHD, autism, or other cognitive variances that makes it hard to tell time, and wish there was a small and portable tool for overcoming time-telling issues in any situation?  

Well, then we most certainly have the product for you at Time Timer: Introducing the new and improved Time Timer Watch!  

That’s right, one of our most popular items here at Time Timer has gotten an upgrade, and we are so glad at the response we have gotten so far from our customers who have made this a best-selling Time Timer!  

Want to know why this lightweight and water-resistant product has become a favorite item to so many Time Timer customers? Read on below to learn why! 
 

Suitable for All Styles 

The Time Timer Watch is available in a variety of colors, offering you the perfect product for the office, a hike, or other activity where setting easily-visible timers helps the task at hand.  

Don’t worry, you don’t have to choose between whether you want a work- or gym-friendly Time Timer Watch, because the soft silicone band can be removed and replaced with any of our accessory colors, so you can find the right color for any situation.  

Set Timers for Any Task 

With the Time Timer Watch, you can set the timer for up to 99 minutes.  

You can also set repeats, so if you want to divide your workout or workday into equal time segments, then all you need to do is set the timer for repeat, and let the watch do the rest without you having to press “reset”. 

Appropriate for Any Situation 

You can set your Time Timer Watch to a vibrate alert, an audio alert, both an audio and vibration alert, or no alert, if you do not want to disturb anyone around you when your Time Timer Watch reaches its limit.  

In all modes, you can see any alarms or timers that you have set. If you are in a dark place, you can use the backlight button to make the screen more visible.  

Multiple Modes 

The Time Timer Mode has a rundown of our patented red disk in digital form, serving as a visual reminder of just how much longer you have left in a task. 

In Custom Timer Mode, you can set the red disk to elapse from any amount of time, the red disk representing a whole fraction of that time period. You can set a timer for 1 minute or 99 minutes. We recommend this for long tasks.  

In Original Timer Mode, the red disk is set for an hour. This is recommended for tasks that last between 10 to 60 minutes.  

You can also set an alarm on the watch, which will go off at a specific time during the day. Note that you cannot set multiple alarms during the day, but you could configure the custom repeating timer to fit your schedule, if possible.  

Lastly, there is the classic clock mode, which has both the numeric digits and the digital display of a clock that offers a quick visual representation of what time it is.  

All you need to do to switch is to press the Mode button on the watch, and you will easily be able to switch!  
 

How to Use the Time Timer Watch 

The Time Timer Watch is easy to use, and setting an alarm, the Time Timer rundown, or the time itself are all made simple with a few clicks of a button on the Time Timer Watch.  

When you are on the mode you want, press and hold the “Set” button for three seconds.  

If setting an alarm, use the + and - buttons to switch to the desired time. Then, press “next” to choose the type of alert you want.  

Once you have done that, you press “set” to confirm the alarm.  

For the Time Timer option, you can press the Mode button to set the timer type, and then press and hold Set to set the time rundown with the + and - buttons.  

In Clock mode, all you need to do is press and hold Set for three seconds, use the  + and - buttons to set the time, then press mode to set the clock format and meridian. Then, press Set to confirm the time.  

Take a Time Timer Visual Timer Everywhere with the Time Timer Watch 

Want to learn more about the Time Timer Watch or our other great products that are useful for people of all ages and abilities? Get in contact with us!