Focus session for exam revision: 25 minutes, a train carriage, when you cannot concentrate on anything else

1 Before you start

• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
• Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
• 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.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.

2 While the timer runs

• Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.
• When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.

3 When it ends

• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.

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.