ready time

← All routines

🎯

You have three hours. You've spent one getting ready to start.

The focus block is on your calendar. You know what you need to work on. But first: coffee. Then email, just to clear the decks. Then a snack. Then the bathroom. Then you reorganize your desk. An hour later you haven't started. A backward plan turns the pre-work ritual into a timed sequence so the actual work begins on schedule.

Circling the task

If you struggle with task initiation, the warm-up activities (coffee, email, tidying) aren't procrastination in the usual sense. They're your brain circling the task, looking for an on-ramp. Without a time limit, the circling never ends.

Give the warm-up a schedule

Instead of fighting the warm-up, plan for it. Ready Time gives each pre-work step a duration: coffee and snack, 10 minutes. Clear urgent emails, 10 minutes. Open your project and review where you left off, 5 minutes. Start. The warm-up still happens, but it has an end time.

Start Deep Work
10:00 AM
10 min Coffee & snack 9:30 AM
5 min Clear urgent messages 9:40 AM
5 min Close extra tabs & apps 9:45 AM
5 min Open project & review notes 9:50 AM
5 min Set a timer & begin 9:55 AM
Start Deep Work 10:00 AM
Ready Time app icon

Ready Time

You know what you need to do. Ready Time tells you when.

Download on the App Store

More routines