Focus session · drawing · 50 min

A 50-minute block for drawing, with a stream, before something difficult

A single 50-minute block for drawing — without correcting anything yet.

50:00

Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.

Let the first out-breath be longer than the in-breath. Nothing dramatic, just longer. It works best in the hour before something difficult. We'll go through it in order, without much decoration.

1 Before you start

  • Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
  • Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
  • Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
  • Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
  • Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.

2 While the timer runs

  • If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
  • 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 have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.

3 When it ends

  • Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
  • Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
  • Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.

4What to put on

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

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