25-minute focus session for portfolio work with a stream, when you have already had a long week

1 Before you start

• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
• Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
• Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.
• Remember that motivation usually arrives after starting, not before.
• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.

2 While the timer runs

• When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
• When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.

3 When it ends

• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.

4What to put on

a stream — Running water with small variation. Softer than rain and less repetitive than a fan.