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Focus session · writing · 25 min

25-minute writing session with plain quiet and a timer, when you have just finished work

Sit down, press start, and get words down 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.

If you're sitting, let the chair do the work of holding you upright. The gap right after work is the easiest one to use. This works better when you don't overthink it.

1 Before you start

  • Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
  • Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
  • Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
  • Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
  • Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.

2 While the timer runs

  • If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
  • When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
  • When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
  • If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.

3 When it ends

  • If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
  • Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
  • Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.

4What to put on

plain quiet — No added sound at all. If you have a quiet room, that is usually better than any recording of one.

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

If this block does not fit, try 25-minute focus session for drawing with rain on a window, when you have more time than usual, Focus session for thesis writing: 25 minutes, rain on a window, if you are fitting this around other people or 45-minute focus block for thesis writing — birds at dawn, when you are on your own.