Focus session · coding · 50 min
Focus session for coding: 50 minutes, a train carriage, when you are doing this for the first time
50 minutes of coding, with a train carriage and a note on what to do when you drift.
50:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Put a hand on your chest for a moment if that feels steadying. Or don't. Both are allowed. If this is your first go, stay with the plainest version of the instructions. No preamble. We start with the body.
1 Before you start
- Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
- Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
- 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.
- Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
2 While the timer runs
- If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
- If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
- When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
- Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.
3 When it ends
- Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
- Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
- Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
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.