Focus session · writing · 90 min
90-minute writing session with vinyl crackle and a timer, before something difficult
Sit down, press start, and get words down 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.
Unclench your jaw. You were probably holding it without noticing. It works best in the hour before something difficult. Straight through, at a normal pace.
1 Before you start
- Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
- Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
- Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
- Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
- Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
2 While the timer runs
- When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.
- If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
- When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
- If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
3 When it ends
- Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
- Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
- If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
4What to put on
vinyl crackle — A thin layer of surface noise over nothing much. Just enough texture to stop the room feeling empty.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.