Focus session · portfolio work · 90 min
Deep work timer: 90 minutes of portfolio work (forest at dusk), when you have been on screens all day
One block of portfolio work with forest at dusk 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.
You don't have to empty your mind. Nobody has ever managed that, including the people who wrote the instructions. After a day of screens, the eyes and the shoulders need this first. We'll be efficient and then you can get on with your day.
1 Before you start
- Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
- Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
- Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
- If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
- Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
2 While the timer runs
- If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
- When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
- If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
- If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
3 When it ends
- Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
- Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
- Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
4What to put on
forest at dusk — Birds settling, leaves moving, nothing sudden. It works because it sounds like a place you can safely ignore.
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