Focus session · coding · 90 min
90-minute coding session with a train carriage and a timer, when you cannot concentrate on anything else
Sit down, press start, and work through the problem for 90 minutes. One full ultradian cycle, for work that needs a long runway.
90:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Your breathing doesn't have to change yet. Let it be whatever size it currently is. When concentration is gone, work with what is left. Follow the instructions and let the rest look after itself.
1 Before you start
- Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
- Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
- Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.
- Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
- Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
2 While the timer runs
- If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
- When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.
- If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
- If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
3 When it ends
- Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
- If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
- Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
4What to put on
a train carriage — Rhythmic, low, and slightly rumbly. Many people find the motion-and-noise combination easier to work to than silence.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.