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Focus session · thesis writing · 90 min

90-minute thesis writing session with a fireplace and a timer, if you are new to this

Sit down, press start, and add to the pile 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.

You don't have to empty your mind. Nobody has ever managed that, including the people who wrote the instructions. Nothing here assumes you have done this before. This works better when you don't overthink it.

1 Before you start

  • Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
  • Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
  • Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
  • Decide that today's session does not have to be good. It has to happen.
  • Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.

2 While the timer runs

  • If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
  • It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
  • If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
  • The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.

3 When it ends

  • Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
  • Have a drink of water before you check anything.
  • Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.

4What to put on

a fireplace — Crackles and a low roar underneath. Warm, irregular, and undemanding.

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 90-minute drawing session with white noise and a timer, when you are too tired to try hard, Focus session for thesis writing: 50 minutes, birds at dawn, when the weather has kept you inside or A 45-minute block for practising an instrument, with distant traffic, when you want to finish something.