Deep work timer: 50 minutes of data work (a library), when you are doing this for the first time

1 Before you start

• Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
• If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.

2 While the timer runs

• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.

3 When it ends

• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
• Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.

4What to put on

a library — Almost nothing: distant footsteps, a chair, a page turning. Useful if you want the feeling of a room where work is normal.