SoftlyStillStart now

Focus session · research · 45 min

45-minute research session with white noise and a timer, when you have tried everything else

Sit down, press start, and follow one thread 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.

Let your next exhale be a sigh, if a sigh is what's waiting there. This assumes you have already tried the obvious things. We'll be efficient and then you can get on with your day.

1 Before you start

  • Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
  • If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
  • Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
  • Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
  • Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.

2 While the timer runs

  • If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
  • If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
  • If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
  • When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.

3 When it ends

  • Resist the urge to review the work straight away. Come back to it later with fresh eyes.
  • Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
  • Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.

4What to put on

white noise — Flat across all frequencies and very effective at covering speech. Some people find it harsh after an hour; keep the volume low.

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 coding session with forest at dusk and a timer, when you have been on screens all day, 50-minute focus block for editing — a library, when you have just finished work or 90-minute focus block for writing — brown noise, when you are too tired to try hard.