45-minute focus block for exam revision — forest at dusk, when you have been on screens all day

1 Before you start

• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
• Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
• If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".

2 While the timer runs

• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
• When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
• If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.

3 When it ends

• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Resist the urge to review the work straight away. Come back to it later with fresh eyes.
• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.

4What to put on

forest at dusk — Birds settling, leaves moving, nothing sudden. It works because it sounds like a place you can safely ignore.