Focus session · admin and email · 45 min
Deep work timer: 45 minutes of admin and email (plain quiet), when you cannot concentrate on anything else
One block of admin and email with plain quiet underneath. A single class period, the length most people can hold before the quality drops.
45:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Start by hearing the furthest sound you can find. When concentration is gone, work with what is left. Keep it simple: breath in, breath out, notice.
1 Before you start
- Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
- Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
- 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.
- Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
2 While the timer runs
- If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
- When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
- If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
- If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
3 When it ends
- Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
- Have a drink of water before you check anything.
- Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
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.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.