Why I Keep a Timer
Everyone tells me to work less. I own a small kitchen timer and I use it every day. I started because I kept opening a document, reading one paragraph, and then checking my phone for twenty minutes. The timer does not fix that. It just makes the twenty minutes visible.
Ten minutes on the clock. If I get bored before it rings, I am allowed to stop, but I have to sit there. No phone, no other tab. It turns out sitting still is the hardest part. After about four minutes my brain gives up and starts working, because there is nothing else to do.
This is not a productivity system. The timer is cheap, it has no notifications, and when it rings I stop even if I am in the middle of a good sentence. That used to bother me. Now I like it. Leaving something unfinished gives me a reason to come back tomorrow.