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Focus session · exam revision · 45 min

45-minute exam revision session with a train carriage and a timer, if you are sceptical about all of this

Sit down, press start, and test yourself for 45 minutes. A single class period, the length most people can hold before the quality drops.

45:00

Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.

Nothing needs to be decided in the next few minutes. Park the decisions. Scepticism is welcome. You do not have to believe anything for this to work. No preamble. We start with the body.

1 Before you start

  • Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
  • Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
  • Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
  • Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
  • Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.

2 While the timer runs

  • If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
  • 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.
  • If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.

3 When it ends

  • Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
  • Have a drink of water before you check anything.
  • Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.

4What to put on

a train carriage — Rhythmic, low, and slightly rumbly. Many people find the motion-and-noise combination easier to work to than silence.

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 90-minute reading session with a library and a timer, when you have been meaning to start, A 45-minute block for problem solving, with vinyl crackle, if you are tired of apps or Focus session for portfolio work: 45 minutes, plain quiet, if you are fitting this around other people.