Deep work timer: 25 minutes of thesis writing (plain quiet), before something difficult

1 Before you start

• Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.
• Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
• If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.

2 While the timer runs

• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
• When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.

3 When it ends

• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.

4What to put on

plain quiet — No added sound at all. If you have a quiet room, that is usually better than any recording of one.