Deep work timer: 45 minutes of decluttering (vinyl crackle), when nothing else has worked today

1 Before you start

• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
• Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
• Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.

2 While the timer runs

• 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.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.

3 When it ends

• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.

4What to put on

vinyl crackle — A thin layer of surface noise over nothing much. Just enough texture to stop the room feeling empty.