Deep work timer: 50 minutes of decluttering (brown noise), after eating too much

1 Before you start

• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
• Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
• Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• 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 your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
• If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
• 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.
• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.

4What to put on

brown noise — Lower and softer than white noise, closer to a waterfall heard from a distance. Good if white noise feels too hissy.