Focus session · writing · 90 min
90-minute writing session with a library and a timer, when you are waiting for something
Sit down, press start, and get words down for 90 minutes. One full ultradian cycle, for work that needs a long runway.
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Keep your eyes open if you like, resting on one point of the floor a metre or two ahead. Waiting is dead time you can spend on this instead. We'll be efficient and then you can get on with your day.
1 Before you start
- Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
- Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
- Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
- Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
- Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
2 While the timer runs
- If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
- If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
- If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
- When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
3 When it ends
- Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
- Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
- Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
4What to put on
a library — Almost nothing: distant footsteps, a chair, a page turning. Useful if you want the feeling of a room where work is normal.
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 applications and forms session with a washing machine and a timer, after a difficult conversation, Deep work timer: 90 minutes of admin and email (distant traffic), when you are cold and want to be warm or 50-minute language practice session with plain quiet and a timer, before something difficult.