Focus session · brainstorming · 45 min
Focus session for brainstorming: 45 minutes, rain on a window, when you are somewhere noisy
45 minutes of brainstorming, with rain on a window and a note on what to do when you drift.
45:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Let the floor take your weight through your feet, and stop holding yourself up for a second. Noise is fine. You are not trying to hear anything subtle. Straight through, at a normal pace.
1 Before you start
- Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
- Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
- Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
- Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
- Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
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.
- If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
- If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
- If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
3 When it ends
- Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
- Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
- Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
4What to put on
rain on a window — Steady rain is broadband noise with a slow natural rhythm. It masks speech and keyboard clatter without being interesting enough to listen to.
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