Focus session · planning · 45 min
A 45-minute block for planning, with a fireplace, when your attention is scattered
A single 45-minute block for planning — on paper, so you can see it.
45:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Start by hearing the furthest sound you can find. Scattered attention is the raw material, not an obstacle. 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.
- Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
- Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.
- Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
- Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
2 While the timer runs
- If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
- When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
- The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
- If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
3 When it ends
- Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
- If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
- Resist the urge to review the work straight away. Come back to it later with fresh eyes.
4What to put on
a fireplace — Crackles and a low roar underneath. Warm, irregular, and undemanding.
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