2 Minute Timer

The time is already filled in. Here is what you will see and what each control does.

1. Look at the Minutes box, which reads 2, with Hours and Seconds at 0. The display shows 02:00.
2. Leave Quick start on Custom time. Its menu has 1 and 5 minutes but no 2 minute entry, which is why this page sets the Minutes box directly.
3. Add a Label (optional), for example Brush or Pitch, if you want a reminder on the display.
4. Press Start. Press it again to Pause and once more to Resume. Space does the same when no button has focus.
5. Use Full screen to show the clock on a larger display, or untick Play a sound when time is up if you want silence.

Once the alarm has sounded, the display turns to a done state and the note reads Time is up, plus your label. Press Reset, or press Start, to go again from 02:00. The tab title also shows the time left, such as 01:12 left, so you can keep working in another tab and glance back.

Dental bodies commonly recommend brushing for two minutes, twice a day, and a clock makes that easy to follow because most people stop early without one. Splitting the two minutes into four equal parts is a popular way to cover the whole mouth: upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right, thirty seconds each.

The timer shows time left, so the quarters fall at 01:30, 01:00 and 00:30. Move to the next area as each one passes. The bar fills as time goes by, which gives a visual cue too. Children often brush for less than they should, so a clock on the bathroom shelf, or a phone propped against the mirror with the timer on Full screen, turns it into a game of finishing before the bar is full. This page has one alarm at the end and no chime at thirty seconds, so you track the quarters by eye. Your dentist knows your mouth, so follow their advice about method and timing over a general rule.

Productivity writers use the number two in two ways. One rule says that if a task would take under two minutes, do it now rather than add it to a list. Another says to shrink a new habit until it takes two minutes: read one page, lay out your trainers, write one sentence. The timer gives either idea a clear edge. Start it, work until the alarm, and then decide whether to stop or carry on. Deciding before you start is what makes the trick work.

Two minutes is also a good length for an elevator pitch. At roughly 130 spoken words a minute, you have room for about 260 words. Draft the pitch, check its length in the word counter, and look at the speaking time in the readability score checker, which uses the same 130 words a minute. Then run the clock and see whether you finish early.

A pitch rarely needs more than three parts: who you are, what problem you solve and what you would like the listener to do next. With two minutes, give each part about forty seconds and leave the rest as breathing room. Reading it aloud once with the timer running will show you quickly which part is too long, and cutting a sentence is easier than rushing through it.

The page needs to stay open to ring. For a minute rather than two, there is the 1 minute timer, and for repeating work and rest cycles try the Pomodoro timer.