Focus session · planning · 50 min
Deep work timer: 50 minutes of planning (distant thunder), when you are too tired to try hard
One block of planning with distant thunder 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.
Start by hearing the furthest sound you can find. Too tired to try hard is exactly the right amount of tired for this. Straight through, at a normal pace.
1 Before you start
- Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.
- Plan to leave the last two minutes for writing down where to pick up next time.
- Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
- Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
- Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
2 While the timer runs
- When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
- If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
- It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
- If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
3 When it ends
- Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
- If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
- Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
4What to put on
distant thunder — Low rumbles with long gaps. Suits people who find sudden noises more distracting than constant ones.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.