A 25-minute block for reading, with forest at dusk, if you are new to this

1 Before you start

• Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.
• Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
• Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.

2 While the timer runs

• When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
• If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.

3 When it ends

• Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.

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.