Focus session · writing · 50 min
Deep work timer: 50 minutes of writing (plain quiet), when you have been meaning to start
One block of writing with plain quiet 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.
Your breathing doesn't have to change yet. Let it be whatever size it currently is. You have been meaning to start. This is the least intimidating way in. We'll go through it in order, without much decoration.
1 Before you start
- Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.
- Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
- Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
- Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
- Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
2 While the timer runs
- When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
- If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
- If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
- When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
3 When it ends
- Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
- Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
- If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
4What to put on
plain quiet — No added sound at all. If you have a quiet room, that is usually better than any recording of one.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.