Focus session · admin and email · 45 min
45-minute admin and email session with distant traffic and a timer, when you are on your own
Sit down, press start, and clear the queue for 45 minutes. A single class period, the length most people can hold before the quality drops.
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Let the first out-breath be longer than the in-breath. Nothing dramatic, just longer. Being on your own is not required, but it does make this simpler. This is a short one, so let's use the time properly.
1 Before you start
- Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
- Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
- Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
- Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
- Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
2 While the timer runs
- When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.
- If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
- When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
- When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
3 When it ends
- Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
- Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
- Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
4What to put on
distant traffic — A low continuous wash from a road you are not on. Familiar and easy to stop hearing.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.
If this block does not fit, try Deep work timer: 90 minutes of admin and email (a stream), if you are tired of apps, 50-minute focus block for thesis writing — a stream, when you feel restless rather than tired or Deep work timer: 25 minutes of reading (a library), when you have more time than usual.