Focus session · data work · 90 min
Deep work timer: 90 minutes of data work (plain quiet), if you are doing this instead of scrolling
One block of data work with plain quiet underneath. One full ultradian cycle, for work that needs a long runway.
90:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Find one place in your body that already feels fine. Use that as the starting point. Choosing this over scrolling counts as a good decision, even a small one. Follow the instructions and let the rest look after itself.
1 Before you start
- Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
- Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
- Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.
- If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
- Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
2 While the timer runs
- If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
- When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
- If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
- If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
3 When it ends
- Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
- 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.
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.
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