Focus session for editing: 50 minutes, café murmur, when you want to finish something

1 Before you start

• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• Remember that motivation usually arrives after starting, not before.
• Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.

2 While the timer runs

• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.

3 When it ends

• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.

4What to put on

café murmur — The blur of other people talking, with none of the words close enough to follow. Some people concentrate better with a low level of company.