25-minute focus session for reading with a library, before something difficult

1 Before you start

• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
• Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.

2 While the timer runs

• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
• Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.
• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.

3 When it ends

• Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
• Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.

4What to put on

a library — Almost nothing: distant footsteps, a chair, a page turning. Useful if you want the feeling of a room where work is normal.