The One Thing Lock framework works with any AI assistant if you are willing to construct and send the setup and unlock prompts manually. That approach is effective and requires nothing except your existing AI tool.
Beyond Time (beyondtime.ai) is built to make that workflow native—the queue capture, session timer, and post-session review are integrated rather than assembled from scratch each time.
This walkthrough shows how to run a complete One Thing Lock session using Beyond Time’s interface.
Before You Start: What to Have Ready
You need three things before starting a session:
- A single output-defined task. One sentence. Specific enough that you will know when it is done.
- A rough task queue. Three to five items you are mentally holding that are not today’s lock-in task.
- A clear window. Forty-five uninterrupted minutes. Notifications off.
The walkthrough assumes you have these. If you do not have the task defined yet, spend two minutes on that before opening Beyond Time. The session quality depends heavily on starting with a clear task.
Step 1: Start a New Focus Session
From the Beyond Time dashboard, open a new Focus Session.
You will see a session setup panel with fields for:
- Session task
- Session duration
- Queue items
Session task: Enter your one-sentence task definition. Be specific. Beyond Time uses this definition as the session anchor—it displays at the top of the session view throughout the block, which serves as a visual re-centering prompt when you notice your attention wandering.
Session duration: Default is 45 minutes. Adjust if your block is shorter or longer. If you are new to the protocol, start with 45.
Queue items: Enter each item your brain is holding. Beyond Time saves these as a queue associated with this session and will surface them in the unlock review. You can add items here or use the voice capture feature during the session.
Step 2: Run the Lock-In
Once the session starts, Beyond Time shifts into focus mode. The interface narrows: you see the task, the timer, and a minimal capture button.
The capture button is the most important feature during the lock-in. When a new thought arrives—an interruption, something you remembered, a question for later—press capture, say or type the item in one sentence, and return to work. Beyond Time logs it with a timestamp and adds it to the session’s capture list.
You do not need to evaluate whether the item is important. You do not need to decide where it belongs. You just capture and return.
This is the digital equivalent of the physical notepad approach, with the added benefit that everything goes directly into the queue that the unlock review will process.
Using AI assistance during the session: Beyond Time provides an integrated AI assistant for task-relevant support. The interface is designed to keep you task-focused: it shows your current task definition at the top of every conversation turn, functioning as a persistent focus anchor.
You can use it to draft, check facts, work through a logical problem, or review source material. Use it for the task in front of you. If you find yourself in a conversation that has drifted from the task, the task definition display will often catch it.
Step 3: The Unlock
When the timer completes, Beyond Time presents the unlock review automatically. This is a structured summary of:
- Session task status: Did you complete it? If not, what is the remaining work?
- Captures from the session: Everything you captured during the block, presented for triage.
- Queue briefing: The items you entered at the start, plus captures integrated in order of priority.
- Next action prompt: A single recommended next step based on the queue.
Work through the unlock review deliberately. Mark the session task complete or carry forward the remaining portion. Triage captures: add to queue, discard, or convert to a next action. Review the queue briefing.
The next action prompt is advisory—Beyond Time suggests what to handle next based on priority signals and due dates if you have entered them. You decide. Take the suggestion, override it, or mark the session as complete and take a break.
Step 4: Close or Continue
Beyond Time gives you two options at the end of the unlock:
Close session: Marks the session complete. Queue items are preserved and will appear in your next planning review. Useful when you are transitioning to a meeting, taking a break, or ending your work day.
Start next lock: Launches the setup panel for a new session with the queue pre-populated from the current session’s carry-forwards. You still define the task for the new session—this is intentional. The task for each lock should be an active decision, not a default.
If you choose to continue with a second lock, run the five-minute setup. Do not skip it on the grounds that the queue is already there. The setup is not queue management—it is cognitive mode-setting. The two minutes it takes are worth more than the two minutes they cost.
What the Integration Adds
Running the One Thing Lock without Beyond Time is entirely viable. The manual prompt approach in the how-to article produces the same structural benefits.
What Beyond Time adds is frictionlessness and persistence. The setup prompt takes thirty seconds instead of two minutes. The queue persists across sessions without copying it from one AI conversation to another. The unlock review is presented automatically rather than requiring you to remember to ask for it.
For people who find that the manual protocol degrades quickly when it becomes effortful—which is common in busy weeks—the lower-friction version maintains consistency better.
Run one complete session today: setup, 45-minute lock-in, and the unlock review in full—and note whether the structured handoff changes how you enter the next activity.
Related:
- The Complete Guide to Single-Tasking with AI Support
- How to Single-Task with AI Support
- The Single-Tasking Framework with AI
- 5 AI Prompts for Single-Tasking
Tags: Beyond Time, single-tasking, focus sessions, tool walkthrough, One Thing Lock
Frequently Asked Questions
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Do I need a specific app to use the One Thing Lock?
No. The One Thing Lock protocol works with any AI assistant. Beyond Time provides a purpose-built interface that handles the queue offloading and session review automatically, but the underlying method is tool-agnostic. -
What does Beyond Time do that a standard AI chat cannot?
Beyond Time structures the focus session workflow natively—queue capture, task definition, timer, and end-of-session review are integrated rather than improvised. It also persists queue state across sessions, so items captured in one lock carry cleanly to the next. -
Is Beyond Time free to use?
Check beyondtime.ai for current pricing. The core planning and focus session features are available to trial users.