Every productivity system eventually collapses into one question: how long can you actually hold attention? The answer, for most people, is about twenty-five minutes.

The number isn't magic

Twenty-five minutes is just long enough to start and short enough that starting doesn't feel like a commitment. That's the whole trick — a finish line you can see from the start.

What the timer actually does

The timer isn't measuring your work. It's holding the door closed. For twenty-five minutes, the world outside doesn't exist, and you don't have to decide to ignore it — the timer already did.