Deep work timer: 25 minutes of thesis writing

1 Before you start

• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.

2 While the timer runs

• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• 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.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.

3 When it ends

• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
• Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.

4What to put on

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