45-minute focus block for studying — a fireplace, when you are too tired to try hard

1 Before you start

• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
• Remember that motivation usually arrives after starting, not before.
• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
• Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".

2 While the timer runs

• If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.

3 When it ends

• Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.

4What to put on

a fireplace — Crackles and a low roar underneath. Warm, irregular, and undemanding.