Deep work timer: 90 minutes of writing (a fireplace), after a difficult conversation

1 Before you start

• Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
• Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
• If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.

2 While the timer runs

• When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
• Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
• When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.

3 When it ends

• Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
• Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.

4What to put on

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