Focus session · problem solving · 25 min

Deep work timer: 25 minutes of problem solving (birds at dawn), when you have more time than usual

One block of problem solving with birds at dawn underneath. One pomodoro, long enough to get somewhere and short enough to start.

25:00

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

Put both feet flat on the floor and let them take some of the weight. This is the longer version, for a day with some slack in it. This is a short one, so let's use the time properly.

1 Before you start

Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.

2 While the timer runs

If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.
If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.

3 When it ends

Have a drink of water before you check anything.
Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.

4What to put on

birds at dawn — Bright but not sharp. Better for early sessions than for late ones.

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 Deep work timer: 25 minutes of editing (café murmur), when you need something unremarkable, Focus session for problem solving: 90 minutes, a washing machine, when you have already had a long week or 45-minute problem solving session with distant thunder and a timer, when you have been putting it off.