90-minute focus session for reading with a stream, when you have been meaning to start

1 Before you start

• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
• Decide that today's session does not have to be good. It has to happen.
• Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.
• Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
• Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.

2 While the timer runs

• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.

3 When it ends

• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.

4What to put on

a stream — Running water with small variation. Softer than rain and less repetitive than a fan.