Focus session · problem solving · 90 min

Deep work timer: 90 minutes of problem solving (forest at dusk), on a low-energy afternoon

One block of problem solving 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.

Check your hands. Are they doing anything? Let them stop. Low-energy afternoons are what this was written for. No preamble. We start with the body.

1 Before you start

Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.
Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.

It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.
If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.

Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
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.

forest at dusk — Birds settling, leaves moving, nothing sudden. It works because it sounds like a place you can safely ignore.

This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.