Procrastination nannies

Need to concentrate but your phone keeps buzzing? For a small fee, a coach can help you get some “deep work” done.

A few times a week, a group of strangers gather in a New York City office with a shared goal: handing over their phones and getting some work done. For some young professionals, such drastic measures are the only way to avoid procrastination.

Caveday was created to address their needs: for $25 (£20) per session, the start-up provides a distraction-free environment and a coach to keep clients accountable, guiding them through stretches of deep concentration and short breaks (including yoga and group dancing). These “cave” sessions, lasting three-and-a-half hours, also aim to provide users, many of them freelancers, with the sense of community they miss when going it alone.

Caveday’s founders are millennials who know how hard it is to focus amid a torrent of WhatsApps, emails and Slack messages. Studies also show that constant multitasking can hit productivity and contribute to burnout. They figured that a few hours of “deep work” could help deliver the mental peace required to truly relax after the workday. “Technology is conspiring to get your attention,” co-founder Jeremy Redleaf says. “There is a war for your attention. We teach people that they have to fight back.”

Perhaps crawling into a cave really is the only way to get anything done. These “procrastination nannies” (a phrase first coined in this piece) could help people take back their time. If nothing else, just consider sticking your phone in a box for a couple of hours.

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Image credit: Piero Zagami and Michela Nicchiotti.