The Hyperfocus Exit Protocol

The exit gets built while you still care about dinner. Two minutes, before the session starts.

1. Set the stop alarm for a specific clock time — on a device across the room, not in your hand.
2. Name the next thing in writing: “After this, I eat and call Sam.”
3. Pick the physical cue that starts the exit: shoes on, kettle on, desk lamp off.
4. Tell one human the stop time if the session is long or risky.
5. Put the parking-note paper and pen next to the keyboard — the landing needs somewhere to go.

No exit set, no session. That is the whole deal you make with yourself. Future-you will try to renegotiate mid-flow; the list does not.

Ten minutes out, the session is already over — you are just packing it up.

• Save, bookmark, or screenshot the state you are in.
• Write the parking sentence: “Next I was going to fix the totals formula.”
• Finish the current micro-step; start no new ones.
• Do the physical cue once: stand, stretch, look away from the screen.
• Tell anyone around: “I'm wrapping up in ten.” Said out loud, it exists.

Ten minutes sounds early. From inside the tunnel, it is barely enough.

Stand up first. Decide after. The order matters more than anything else on this sheet.

1. Walk to the alarm and silence it physically.
2. Say the named next thing out loud, then do its first physical step.
3. If the pull back is strong, take two minutes of water and window before deciding anything.
4. If you genuinely must continue, re-arm the protocol: new alarm, new parking sentence.

Snoozed the alarm twice? That is data about the cue, not about you.

• Move the alarm further away next time — reachability is the flaw.
• Add a human layer: someone who calls or shows up at the stop time.
• Or schedule deep sessions right before a hard stop you cannot move.

Adjust one layer per session, never all three — otherwise you never learn which one failed.

No self-trial. The protocol gets adjusted, not you.