Focus session · brainstorming · 45 min

A 45-minute block for brainstorming

A single 45-minute block for brainstorming — quantity before quality.

45:00

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. Difficult conversations leave a residue. This is for the residue. Keep it simple: breath in, breath out, notice.

1 Before you start

Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
If your mind is already racing, write down the three loudest thoughts before you begin.
Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.

2 While the timer runs

If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.
If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.

3 When it ends

Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
Have a drink of water before you check anything.

4What to put on

a train carriage — Rhythmic, low, and slightly rumbly. Many people find the motion-and-noise combination easier to work to than silence.

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

If this block does not fit, try 45-minute focus session for reading with brown noise, when you are at home and cannot settle, 90-minute focus session for design work with brown noise, when you have already had a long week or 25-minute problem solving session with rain on a window and a timer, when you want something simple.