Focus session · planning · 50 min

Focus session for planning: 50 minutes, white noise, when you are not sure this will work

50 minutes of planning, with white noise 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.

You don't have to empty your mind. Nobody has ever managed that, including the people who wrote the instructions. Not being sure it will work is a perfectly good reason to try it once. Keep it simple: breath in, breath out, notice.

1 Before you start

  • Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
  • Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
  • Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.
  • Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
  • Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.

2 While the timer runs

  • If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
  • When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
  • If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
  • When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.

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.
  • Have a drink of water before you check anything.

4What to put on

white noise — Flat across all frequencies and very effective at covering speech. Some people find it harsh after an hour; keep the volume low.

This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.