A 25-minute block for research, with birds at dawn, when you want something simple

1 Before you start

• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
• Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
• Plan to leave the last two minutes for writing down where to pick up next time.
• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.

2 While the timer runs

• If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
• When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.

3 When it ends

• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.

4What to put on

birds at dawn — Bright but not sharp. Better for early sessions than for late ones.