Focus session · thesis writing · 50 min
Deep work timer: 50 minutes of thesis writing (café murmur), when you are not in the mood
One block of thesis writing with café murmur underneath. Fifty minutes, the length of a therapy hour, with ten minutes off afterwards.
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Let your forehead smooth out. Most of us hold a small frown there all day. Not being in the mood is a normal starting point. No preamble. We start with the body.
1 Before you start
- Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
- Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
- Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
- Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
- Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
2 While the timer runs
- The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
- If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
- When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
- If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
3 When it ends
- Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
- Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
- Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
4What to put on
café murmur — The blur of other people talking, with none of the words close enough to follow. Some people concentrate better with a low level of company.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.
If this block does not fit, try 25-minute focus session for planning with a library, when you are not in the mood, 25-minute brainstorming session with distant traffic and a timer, if you are doing this instead of scrolling or 50-minute focus block for portfolio work — a train carriage, when you cannot concentrate on anything else.