Focus session · practising an instrument · 90 min
90-minute focus block for practising an instrument — a fan or air conditioner, when you want to finish something
A timer, a short prep list, and 90 minutes to drill the hard bars.
90:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Feel your ribs move. That is all the machinery you need to pay attention to right now. Wanting to finish something is a better motivation than wanting to relax. No preamble. We start with the body.
1 Before you start
- Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
- Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
- Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
- Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
- Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
2 While the timer runs
- If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
- If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
- If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
- If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
3 When it ends
- Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.
- Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
- Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
4What to put on
a fan or air conditioner — A constant mechanical hum with no variation. The lack of change is the point — nothing in it asks for your attention.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.