45-minute focus block for language practice — plain quiet, when you want to be left alone

1 Before you start

• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
• Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.
• Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
• Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.

2 While the timer runs

• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.

3 When it ends

• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
• 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.