Focus session · studying · 50 min
50-minute studying session with brown noise and a timer, before something difficult
Sit down, press start, and take in the material for 50 minutes. Fifty minutes, the length of a therapy hour, with ten minutes off afterwards.
50:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Check your hands. Are they doing anything? Let them stop. It works best in the hour before something difficult. Keep it simple: breath in, breath out, notice.
1 Before you start
- Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
- If your mind is already racing, write down the three loudest thoughts before you begin.
- Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
- Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
- Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
2 While the timer runs
- 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.
- It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
- When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
3 When it ends
- Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
- Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.
- Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
4What to put on
brown noise — Lower and softer than white noise, closer to a waterfall heard from a distance. Good if white noise feels too hissy.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.