Focus session · applications and forms · 25 min
A 25-minute block for applications and forms, with rain on a window, if you are new to this
A single 25-minute block for applications and forms — dull but finite.
25:00
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. Nothing here assumes you have done this before. Straight through, at a normal pace.
1 Before you start
- Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
- Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
- Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.
- Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
- Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.
2 While the timer runs
- When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
- When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
- 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.
- Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
- Have a drink of water before you check anything.
4What to put on
rain on a window — Steady rain is broadband noise with a slow natural rhythm. It masks speech and keyboard clatter without being interesting enough to listen to.
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