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Focus session · thesis writing · 90 min

A 90-minute block for thesis writing, with brown noise, when the house is busy

A single 90-minute block for thesis writing — sections, not the whole thing.

90:00

Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.

Nothing needs to be decided in the next few minutes. Park the decisions. It works with other people in the house. You do not need silence. No preamble. We start with the body.

1 Before you start

  • Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
  • Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
  • Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
  • Decide that today's session does not have to be good. It has to happen.
  • Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.

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.
  • If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
  • 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

  • Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
  • Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.
  • Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.

4What to put on

brown noise — Lower and softer than white noise, closer to a waterfall heard from a distance. Good if white noise feels too hissy.

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 A 90-minute block for data work, with a stream, when the day has been loud, 25-minute admin and email session with a fan or air conditioner and a timer, if you are sceptical about all of this or 50-minute focus session for problem solving with forest at dusk, when you want to finish something.