The Blocker for Writers Who Research Themselves Into Oblivion
Writing has the most porous border with distraction of any work: research is one tab from rabbit hole, and 'checking one fact' is the writer's gateway drug. The blank page repels; the feed welcomes. Every word processor is one ctrl+T away from the entire internet.
How Focus AI fits this fight
- ✔Declare the piece ('draft chapter 3', 'finish the newsletter') and the AI holds the border between research and rabbit hole
- ✔Dictionaries, references and source material pass; the feed dressed as research does not
- ✔The LOCKED IN pill keeps the commitment visible during the long quiet middle of a draft
- ✔Session receipts turn word-count days into a visible streak
Lock in. For real this time.
First 3 sessions free, 30 seconds to set up. Type what you're working on and let the AI hold the door.
Add Focus AI to ChromeTools that pair well with Focus AI
Focus AI protects the session. These help you do more with it.
- The Effortless Academic
Ilya Shabanov's guides and courses for researchers and grad students: literature reviews, note-taking in Obsidian, and which AI research tools are worth using.
Frequently asked questions
How does it know research from procrastination?
It reads the page against the task you declared. A historical source for your chapter passes; 45 minutes of Wikipedia three links from anything relevant starts getting blocked. The border is your task description, so write it honestly.
Does it work with Google Docs / Notion / Scrivener web?
Writing tools are allowed by default. The blocker guards the doors of your writing room; it never enters it.
What about deliberate research sessions?
Run a session named for research ('gather sources on X') and the AI widens accordingly. Different task, different borders: that's the entire model.