Focus session · drawing · 25 min

25-minute focus session for drawing with rain on a window, when you have more time than usual

25 minutes on drawing — without correcting anything yet. 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.

Keep your eyes open if you like, resting on one point of the floor a metre or two ahead. This is the longer version, for a day with some slack in it. No preamble. We start with the body.

1 Before you start

  • Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
  • Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
  • 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.
  • Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.

2 While the timer runs

  • Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
  • If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
  • If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
  • If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.

3 When it ends

  • Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
  • Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
  • Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.

4What to put on

rain on a window — Steady rain is broadband noise with a slow natural rhythm. It masks speech and keyboard clatter without being interesting enough to listen to.

This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.