Before you read on, open the Jst Relax: and check it out for yourself. It shouldn't take more than 1–2 minutes and if it does I'm certain it'll be time well spent.

This page isn't going anywhere, I'll wait for you here.

Jst Relax is a simple alarm clock, not much more complex than a pomodoro timer. You choose a length of time to just sit in silence, set it and forget it. When that time is up, a gong gently brings you back and then repeats every minute until you switch it off so you don't lose track of time.

Some people (myself included) use it to meditate, but really there is no right way of enjoying it. As long as I can get you to sit down on your ass for a moment and stop trying to be productive, I'm a happy man.

I've always loved the idea of simple, atomic (as "indivisible") tools, objects with a brütally simple purpose. They're easy to explain, you can stack them like legos and compose. Jst Relax is an exercise in that.

Reason #1: Time

live slow, die old ~an ancient doom metal koan

Web has become a sort of a shitty metaverse. Every step you take is watched in terms of its monetisation potential, every interaction is meant to extract value from you. Every breath you take, Every scroll you make. We've established that.

What I wanted to build was the opposite. I wanted to give you a little of your time back. That's why when you open Jst Relax, there are only two things you can do:

1. Close the tab, or
2. Sit down on your butt and watch the grass grow

I hope you chose the second one. If not, I do hope that since you've read this far I'm giving you something worth your time. Just like anyone else, I want to feel useful.

Have you ever wasted 10 minutes of your life scrolling through Instagram reels, only to forget why you're there in the first place?

A funny thing can happen when you use Jst Relax. When you just relax and do nothing, every minute drags on into what feels like infinity. But when you mindlessly watch reels or doomscroll through Instagram, I blink and the pasta is overcooked, I blink again and the light in the kitchen is different, cooler, the shadows have moved. Are we really alive if we're not here?

When you open Jst Relax, I don't try to fill your brain with anything. It's just you and your thoughts. That can get uncomfortable. But when you finish, for some strange reason you feel better.

Alternative reason for title #1 is the time I want back. The two other reasons I built Jst Relax are more trivial and less likely to generate a rant.

Reason #2: Motivation

I've decided to work on personal projects in my free time after 9 to 5. I want that piece of mind for a few minutes. But where? I needed one space that does nothing, just a calm place to relax. After a few days of running around in circles, I decided to build something small to help me, and hopefully others as well.

Building things and sharing them with friends, watching my work being enjoyed or helpful to others is a big motivation. Building things for others is a form of communication and fulfills a very basic human need.

Reason #3: I have very specific clock needs

I don't want to be wise. I want to be clockwise.

Another big reason why Jst Relax is built this way is habit reinforcement. Preventing issues is easier than crisis management.

I try to meditate every morning. For me, it's a form of mental hygiene and a spiritual practice in connecting with something bigger than us, like nature. One type of meditation I practice, called shi-nè, is challenging because it involves detaching yourself from the voice in your head without focusing on anything else like breath or music.

This can be frustrating and boring. Our brain constantly looks for things to focus on, it abhors a vacuum. The positive effects of this exercise take time to manifest, and maintaining a habit that initially feels unpleasant is hard.

Remember earlier when I said that although sitting down and doing nothing can be unpleasant at first, when you finish for some strange reason you feel better? You benefit from habits more if you take some time to reflect after you're done. It also makes them easier to stick by associating reward with an initially annoying activity.

That's why the timer in Jst Relax is gentler than a regular snooze button. It lets me wind down and reflect without aggressively throwing me back into my routine. I still know how much time has passed but I can afford to spend another minute or two on it.

And remember: Every minute spent in Jst Relax is $0.01 Mark Zuckerberg can't spend on the metaverse.