Focus session · research · 25 min
Deep work timer: 25 minutes of research (forest at dusk), if you have five quiet minutes
One block of research with forest at dusk underneath. One pomodoro, long enough to get somewhere and short enough to start.
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
You don't have to empty your mind. Nobody has ever managed that, including the people who wrote the instructions. Five quiet minutes is enough. Ten is generous. We'll be efficient and then you can get on with your day.
1 Before you start
- Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
- Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
- Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.
- Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
- Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.
2 While the timer runs
- If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
- 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.
- When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
3 When it ends
- Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
- Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
- Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
4What to put on
forest at dusk — Birds settling, leaves moving, nothing sudden. It works because it sounds like a place you can safely ignore.
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 45-minute block for editing, with forest at dusk, when you cannot concentrate on anything else, Focus session for portfolio work: 25 minutes, rain on a window, if you are tired of apps or A 50-minute block for research, with a library, when you have tried everything else.