Focus session · brainstorming · 25 min
25-minute brainstorming session with café murmur and a timer, after a difficult conversation
Sit down, press start, and generate options for 25 minutes. One pomodoro, long enough to get somewhere and short enough to start.
25:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
You don't have to empty your mind. Nobody has ever managed that, including the people who wrote the instructions. Difficult conversations leave a residue. This is for the residue. No preamble. We start with the body.
1 Before you start
- Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
- Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
- Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.
- Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
- Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
2 While the timer runs
- When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
- When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
- If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
- When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
3 When it ends
- Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
- Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
- Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
4What to put on
café murmur — The blur of other people talking, with none of the words close enough to follow. Some people concentrate better with a low level of company.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.