Focus session · planning · 90 min

Deep work timer: 90 minutes of planning (a fireplace), after a long day

One block of planning with a fireplace 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.

Let the first out-breath be longer than the in-breath. Nothing dramatic, just longer. Use it at the end of a long day, not at the start of one. Keep it simple: breath in, breath out, notice.

1 Before you start

Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
Decide that today's session does not have to be good. It has to happen.
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.
Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.

2 While the timer runs

If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.

3 When it ends

Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
Resist the urge to review the work straight away. Come back to it later with fresh eyes.

4What to put on

a fireplace — Crackles and a low roar underneath. Warm, irregular, and undemanding.

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 Deep work timer: 45 minutes of drawing (rain on a window), on a day that started badly, 50-minute focus block for language practice — a stream, when the house is busy or 25-minute focus session for language practice with a fan or air conditioner, when nothing else has worked today.