Deep work timer: 50 minutes of drawing (forest at dusk), when you are waiting for something

1 Before you start

• Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.
• Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
• Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.

2 While the timer runs

• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
• 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

• Have a drink of water before you check anything.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Resist the urge to review the work straight away. Come back to it later with fresh eyes.

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.