Focus session · studying · 45 min
A 45-minute block for studying, with a library, when you are somewhere unfamiliar
A single 45-minute block for studying — reading and notes, not highlighting.
45:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Keep your eyes open if you like, resting on one point of the floor a metre or two ahead. It travels well. Hotels, spare rooms, other people’s sofas. Keep it simple: breath in, breath out, notice.
1 Before you start
- Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
- Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
- Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
- Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
- Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
2 While the timer runs
- If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
- When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
- When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
- Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
3 When it ends
- Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
- Resist the urge to review the work straight away. Come back to it later with fresh eyes.
- Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
4What to put on
a library — Almost nothing: distant footsteps, a chair, a page turning. Useful if you want the feeling of a room where work is normal.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.