Deep work timer: 25 minutes of admin and email (white noise), if you are fitting this around other people

1 Before you start

• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
• Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
• Plan to leave the last two minutes for writing down where to pick up next time.
• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.

2 While the timer runs

• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.

3 When it ends

• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.

4What to put on

white noise — Flat across all frequencies and very effective at covering speech. Some people find it harsh after an hour; keep the volume low.