A 25-minute block for language practice, with a stream, when you want to be left alone

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.
• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
• 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 get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.

3 When it ends

• Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.

4What to put on

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