Focus session · writing · 90 min
90-minute focus block for writing — brown noise, when you are too tired to try hard
A timer, a short prep list, and 90 minutes to get words down.
90:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
If you're sitting, let the chair do the work of holding you upright. Too tired to try hard is exactly the right amount of tired for this. Straight through, at a normal pace.
1 Before you start
- Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.
- Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
- Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
- Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
- 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.
- When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
- If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
- If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
3 When it ends
- Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
- Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
- 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.