Deep work timer: 50 minutes of reading (brown noise), when you feel restless rather than tired

1 Before you start

• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
• Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.

2 While the timer runs

• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• 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 start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.

3 When it ends

• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
• 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

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