Focus session for language practice: 90 minutes, a fan or air conditioner, when you want to be left alone

1 Before you start

• Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
• Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
• Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.

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 a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.

3 When it ends

• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.

4What to put on

a fan or air conditioner — A constant mechanical hum with no variation. The lack of change is the point — nothing in it asks for your attention.