Focus session · reading · 25 min
25-minute focus block for reading — a washing machine, after eating too much
A timer, a short prep list, and 25 minutes to read properly.
25:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Sit however you were already sitting. You don't have to straighten up first. Do this sitting up, not lying down, if you have just eaten. No preamble. We start with the body.
1 Before you start
- Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
- Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
- Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.
- Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
- Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
2 While the timer runs
- When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
- The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
- If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
- If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
3 When it ends
- Have a drink of water before you check anything.
- Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
- Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
4What to put on
a washing machine — Domestic, mechanical, and oddly steadying. The sound of something else being dealt with.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.