Deep work timer: 45 minutes of reading (vinyl crackle), before something difficult

1 Before you start

• Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
• Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
• Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.

2 While the timer runs

• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• 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 you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.

3 When it ends

• Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
• 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.