Focus session · design work · 45 min
Deep work timer: 45 minutes of design work (distant traffic), if you are fitting this around other people
One block of design work with distant traffic underneath. A single class period, the length most people can hold before the quality drops.
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. It is designed to fit around other people’s schedules. We'll be efficient and then you can get on with your day.
1 Before you start
- Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
- Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
- Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
- Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
- Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
2 While the timer runs
- If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
- When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
- If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
- Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
3 When it ends
- Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
- Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
- Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
4What to put on
distant traffic — A low continuous wash from a road you are not on. Familiar and easy to stop hearing.
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 50-minute focus block for thesis writing — café murmur, if you are tired of apps, 25-minute brainstorming session with distant traffic and a timer, if you are doing this instead of scrolling or Focus session for reading: 90 minutes, plain quiet, when you are on your own.