Focus session · research · 45 min
Deep work timer: 45 minutes of research (a fireplace), if you are doing this instead of scrolling
One block of research with a fireplace 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. Choosing this over scrolling counts as a good decision, even a small one. We'll go through it in order, without much decoration.
1 Before you start
- Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
- Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
- Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
- Decide that today's session does not have to be good. It has to happen.
- Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
2 While the timer runs
- When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
- 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.
- The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
3 When it ends
- Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
- Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
- Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
4What to put on
a fireplace — Crackles and a low roar underneath. Warm, irregular, and undemanding.
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 Deep work timer: 25 minutes of editing (distant traffic), when you need to stop thinking about work, 25-minute focus block for reading — a washing machine, after eating too much or 25-minute focus block for exam revision — white noise, when you want something simple.