Deep work timer: 50 minutes of writing (forest at dusk), when you have just finished work

1 Before you start

• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
• If your mind is already racing, write down the three loudest thoughts before you begin.
• Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.

2 While the timer runs

• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.
• The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.

3 When it ends

• Resist the urge to review the work straight away. Come back to it later with fresh eyes.
• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.

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.