Deep work timer: 90 minutes of admin and email (a fan or air conditioner), when you are on your own

1 Before you start

• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.

2 While the timer runs

• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
• The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.

3 When it ends

• Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.

4What to put on

a fan or air conditioner — A constant mechanical hum with no variation. The lack of change is the point — nothing in it asks for your attention.