50-minute focus session for language practice with a train carriage, before you go back to something hard

1 Before you start

• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.

2 While the timer runs

• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.

3 When it ends

• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
• 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.