Pick the kind of limit that fits
- A daily allowance: a total budget, like 30 minutes of YouTube a day. Once it's used up, the site is blocked until tomorrow.
- A schedule: the site is only open at certain times, like after 6pm or at weekends.
- A pass per visit: before the site opens, you decide how long you need it, and it closes when that time is up.
Daily allowances
Allowances suit sites you use in small doses but tend to overdo. Set the limit a little below what you use now, not at your ideal: going from 2 hours to 1 sticks far better than going to 10 minutes.
In ZenTab Pro, add a daily limit to any site in the Site Blocker. Time counts while you're on the site and pauses when you step away from the computer. If a free daily allowance is all you need, StayFocusd does that well.
Schedules
Schedules suit sites that are fine in your free time but not during work. Decide once, and the blocker holds the line every day without you thinking about it. ZenTab Pro can schedule any site, for example blocked on weekdays from 9 to 6.
A time pass per visit
The trouble with most limits is the visit itself: you open Reddit "for a minute" and an hour goes by. ZenTab's free Intent Mode asks how long you need the site (5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes), shows a small countdown on the page, and closes the site when time is up. You get up to 3 passes per site a day.
Because you choose the time while you're still thinking clearly, it holds better than a limit you set weeks ago.
Make the limit hard to cheat
Raising a limit in a weak moment undoes it. With Strict Mode+ in ZenTab Pro, making a rule stricter works right away, but loosening it waits until 4am the next day. By then the urge has passed.
Check that it's working
Look again after a week. ZenTab's Urge Report counts every time you reached for a blocked site and turns it into time saved, so you can watch the habit fade.