Caveday is something in between a coworking space and a work retreat. It's an online service that helps you create time and space for getting something done with the support of others.
It works like this. You sign up for a Cave session, which is a group Zoom call. You can choose sessions that are 30 minutes, one hour, or three hours long. The platform encourages everyone who joins the call, including you, to select one thing that you intend to work on for the duration of the Cave. Every call has a host, who greets all the members and prompts them along. Then, you work for a set amount of time (around 50 to 55 minutes) until the host tells you to stop.
No one uses Caveday all day long. Most people join a one-hour or three-hour session. Part of Caveday's effectiveness comes from the fact that you join a session only when you know what you want to accomplish. Caveday even gives you a text field to write down your goal so you're clear on what you will do while you're in a Cave.
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To use Caveday, you must pay for a membership. A Basic membership ($19.99 per month or $54 per quarter) lets you access the 24/7 Focus Lounge, attend weekly planning workshops, and book eight sessions per month. An Unlimited membership ($39.99 per month, $105 per quarter, or $360 per year) gets you an accountability group, community forums, on-demand tools, weekly planning workshops, and unlimited reservations. You can take advantage of a 14-day trial for this plan—though it requires you to add a payment method.
A Premium subscription includes everything from the Unlimited tier, along with two hours of one-on-one coaching per month. It starts at $399.99 per month, with discounts for quarterly or annual payments.
Organizations looking for group membership can contact Caveday directly.
The dates and times for sessions span worldwide time zones and are available seven days a week. I've been in Caves with people from Germany, India, Kenya, South Korea, the UK, and across all the US time zones. Once you sign up for a session, you receive confirmations in your Caveday account and an email with instructions on how to join.
Every Cave has a Cave Guide, or a trained host who controls the meeting and leads the session. The host introduces and closes out each session, and for longer sessions, the host also times the work sprints and breaks. The host mutes everyone upon entry. It's up to you whether you want to turn on your video.
When a session starts, the Cave Guide welcomes everyone and suggests changing your Zoom name to include your first name, location, and what you're working on today. For example: Jill | D.C. | writing. Caveday has strict rules about courtesy and not promoting products or services, which you must agree to before you join.
The Cave Guide says a few words to set the tone. In my experience, hosts tend to create a calm and supportive atmosphere. It's meditative rather than cheerleader energy.
Depending on how many people are in a session, the host might divide people into breakout groups for a tight two minutes to answer a prompt. Joining is optional. The prompt usually has you state something about your intention for the session, such as "What are you setting out to accomplish?" and maybe something fun and light, like "What was your favorite childhood snack?" If you came into the Cave unsure about what you plan to accomplish, the prompt nudges you to name it and be specific. The fact that other people hear you state your intention in the breakout room adds a layer of accountability.
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Something I enjoyed about these short breakout sessions was hearing the variety of work that people hoped to accomplish. l met engineers, illustrators, and professors, along with students studying for big exams. I heard from people who were using their Cave time to answer emails and others who were developing radio shows. The fact that the group isn't homogenous sparks curiosity and interest, and those feelings, for me at least, transformed into energy that I then put toward my work.
There's still one more step before the session officially begins. Once everyone re-joins the main call, the Cave Guide asks everyone to rub their hands together and clap on the count of three. Participation is always optional, and no one knows whether you participated if you keep your camera off. After the group clap, the session begins.
Everything I've mentioned so far takes about eight minutes. For the next 50-55 minutes, everyone works in silence. Some people leave their cameras on. I turned mine off. I also navigated away from the Zoom window and didn't watch what people were doing.
Monotasking, or doing one thing at a time (the opposite of multitasking), is the secret sauce to making the most of your Cave time. Some Cave Guides suggest silencing notifications or removing your phone from being within arm's reach to better monotask.
The team that started Caveday has done research on people's ability to focus deeply. It's a generalization, but most people can't focus well on one task for more than about 52 minutes or so. Yes, it depends on the task, the person, the environment, and other factors such as skill level and previous practice, but generally speaking, after focusing on one thing for 50 minutes, you need to take a break to refresh your ability to focus again and repeat the cycle.
When the 50 minutes are up, the Cave Guide announces a communal break (or the end of the session for one-hour Caves) and encourages everyone to stop working. The host might suggest a series of stretches or movements, yet another moment to participate or not. If you tend to work alone and crave the tiniest bit of human interaction to break up your day, Caveday delivers.
After the short break, if you're in a three-hour Cave, you then repeat the cycle twice more, though without any more breakout groups. At the end, the Cave Guide might invite people to share their accomplishments or wins in the chat box. Often, the host ends the call with a virtual group high-five. It may sound hokey, but it puts a smile on my face every time.
Aside from work sessions, Caveday has a few other services.
Planning workshops are half-hour group sessions that aim to help you plan your week, month, or quarter. There aren't as many live sessions to choose from, so they might not happen at a good time for you. However, you can watch a replay of a previous planning session and get nearly the same benefits.
A 24/7 lounge is an online space you can join at any time. In it, you might see other Caveday members working quietly. It has an audio player for background music or rain sounds.
Themed Caves are sessions dedicated to a theme, like decluttering or writing, though they don't happen very often. Meditation-themed Caves pop up about once a week, although those are normal work sprint Caves that merely start with five minutes of guided meditation.
You can also access a solo Cave at any time, which lets you track a 20-minute, 30-minute, or 45-minute focus sprint by yourself.
Final Thoughts
(Credit: PCMag Composite; Caveday)
Caveday
- 5.0 - Exemplary: Near perfection, ground-breaking
- 4.5 - Outstanding: Best in class, acts as a benchmark for measuring competitors
- 4.0 - Excellent: A performance, feature, or value leader in its class, with few shortfalls
- 3.5 - Good: Does what the product should do, and does so better than many competitors
- 3.0 - Average: Does what the product should do, and sits in the middle of the pack
- 2.5 - Fair: We have some reservations, buy with caution
- 2.0 - Subpar: We do not recommend, buy with extreme caution
- 1.5 - Poor: Do not buy this product
- 1.0 - Dismal: Don't even think about buying this product
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If you've ever thought about making a grand gesture to get a project done, say by secluding yourself in a cabin in the woods or a fancy hotel room until the work is finished, Caveday is a better solution. It's more affordable and realistic, and it works for projects big and small. A little accountability and a few virtual high-fives can go a long way. Thanks to the productive and supportive work atmosphere it creates, Caveday is an Editors' Choice winner and deserves an exceptional five-star rating.
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About Our Expert
I've been contributing to PCMag since 2011 in a variety of ways. My column, Get Organized, has been running on PCMag since 2012. It gives advice on how to manage all the devices, apps, digital photos, email, and other technology that can make you feel like you're going to have a panic attack.
My latest book is The Everything Guide to Remote Work, which goes into great detail about a subject that I've been covering as a writer and participating in personally since well before the COVID-19 pandemic.
I write about work culture, personal productivity, and software, including project management software, collaboration apps, productivity apps, and language-learning software.
Previously, I worked for the Association for Computing Machinery, The San Francisco Examiner newspaper, Game Developer magazine, and (I kid you not) The Journal of Chemical Physics. I was once profiled in an article in Vogue India alongside Marie Kondo. I'm currently pursuing a few unannounced long-form projects.
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Remote work, work life, work culture
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I put off buying new hardware until I've squeezed every last bit of usage out of the devices I already own. I use both macOS and Windows, iPhone and Android.
My life is organized by Todoist and my notes live in Joplin. Where would I be without Dashlane as my password manager? Probably locked out of all my many online accounts—I have more than 1,000 of them.
When I give out my contact information, it's an excruciatingly long list of phone numbers, messaging apps, and email addresses because it's important to stay flexible but also mysterious.
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