Focus session · applications and forms · 50 min

Deep work timer: 50 minutes of applications and forms (forest at dusk), when your attention is scattered

One block of applications and forms with forest at dusk underneath. Fifty minutes, the length of a therapy hour, with ten minutes off afterwards.

50:00

Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.

Keep your eyes open if you like, resting on one point of the floor a metre or two ahead. Scattered attention is the raw material, not an obstacle. Straight through, at a normal pace.

1 Before you start

  • Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
  • Plan to leave the last two minutes for writing down where to pick up next time.
  • Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
  • Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
  • Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.

2 While the timer runs

  • When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
  • It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
  • If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
  • When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.

3 When it ends

  • Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
  • Have a drink of water before you check anything.
  • Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.

4What to put on

forest at dusk — Birds settling, leaves moving, nothing sudden. It works because it sounds like a place you can safely ignore.

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