The 90-Minute Deep Work Block: A Freelancer's Guide

You're juggling three client projects. Each needs actual progress today. You open your laptop at 9am and by noon you've responded to Slack, checked email twice, moved some tasks around, and maybe wrote half a deliverable.

This is the default. It doesn't have to be.

What is a deep work block?

90-120 minutes of single-context work. No Slack. No email. No "quick" task switching. Just one project, one deliverable, actual progress.

Cal Newport calls this "professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit."

The limit part matters. You're not checking email in deep work—you're building something that requires thought.

Why 90-120 minutes specifically?

Your brain needs 15-20 minutes to fully load a context. Variables, goals, where you left off, what needs to happen next. If you're switching every 30 minutes, you never get there.

Research shows 90 minutes hits a sweet spot: long enough to make real progress, short enough that your brain doesn't revolt. Go past 2 hours and you're diminishing returns.

Newport again: "To produce at your peak level you need to work for extended periods with full concentration on a single task free from distraction."

Extended periods. Not 25-minute pomodoros when you're doing actual thinking work.

How to actually do this

Morning planning (5 minutes):

• Pick your 2-3 contexts for the day
• Block 90-120 minutes for each
• Put them on your calendar

Before the block:

• Close Slack, email, everything
• Know what you're working on (not deciding mid-block)
• Have what you need open

During the block:

• Work on tasks within that context
• Pick tasks as you go based on what makes sense
• Don't switch contexts even if something else feels urgent

After the block:

• 15-minute break minimum
• Check messages if needed
• Start next block or wrap for the day

The freelancer reality

You're moving 3-5 projects forward in a week. Deep work blocks don't eliminate context switching—they contain it.

Instead of switching 30 times a day, you switch 2-3 times. Each switch is intentional, planned, with recovery time between.

"The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy." —Cal Newport

Freelancers who can do deep work bill more, deliver better quality, and don't end every day fried.

What this looks like in practice

Monday:

• 9:00-10:30: Client A (finish proposal)
• 11:00-12:30: Client B (build feature X)
• 2:00-3:30: Client C (review + feedback)

Tuesday:

• 9:00-10:30: Client B (continue feature X)
• 11:00-12:00: Admin (invoicing, emails)
• 1:00-2:30: Client A (kickoff prep)

Three blocks is plenty. Some days you'll do two. Rarely more than four.

The point isn't maximizing hours. It's making the hours count.

Start tomorrow

Pick one context. Block 90 minutes. Close everything else. Work.

That's it. You'll know by 10:30am if this works for you.

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Building tools for focused work across multiple contexts at tidelo.app