SoftlyStillStart now

Focus session · editing · 90 min

Deep work timer: 90 minutes of editing (distant thunder), when you have been on screens all day

One block of editing with distant thunder 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.

Check your hands. Are they doing anything? Let them stop. After a day of screens, the eyes and the shoulders need this first. Keep it simple: breath in, breath out, notice.

1 Before you start

  • Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
  • Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
  • Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
  • Plan to leave the last two minutes for writing down where to pick up next time.
  • Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.

2 While the timer runs

  • It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
  • If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
  • If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
  • When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.

3 When it ends

  • Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
  • Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
  • Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.

4What to put on

distant thunder — Low rumbles with long gaps. Suits people who find sudden noises more distracting than constant ones.

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 45-minute focus session for studying with a train carriage, when the weather has kept you inside, 25-minute brainstorming session with café murmur and a timer, after a difficult conversation or 50-minute writing session with distant traffic and a timer, if you are doing this instead of scrolling.