Focus session · planning · 25 min

A 25-minute block for planning, with forest at dusk, when you are waiting for something

A single 25-minute block for planning — on paper, so you can see it.

25:00

Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.

Let your next exhale be a sigh, if a sigh is what's waiting there. Waiting is dead time you can spend on this instead. No preamble. We start with the body.

1 Before you start

  • Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
  • Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
  • Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.
  • 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.

2 While the timer runs

  • When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
  • When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
  • It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
  • 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 one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
  • Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.

4What to put on

forest at dusk — Birds settling, leaves moving, nothing sudden. It works because it sounds like a place you can safely ignore.

This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.