A 25-minute block for studying, with a stream, when you have just finished work

1 Before you start

• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
• If your mind is already racing, write down the three loudest thoughts before you begin.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
• Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.

2 While the timer runs

• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
• 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.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.

3 When it ends

• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.

4What to put on

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