Focus session for practising an instrument: 90 minutes, brown noise, when you are cold and want to be warm

1 Before you start

• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
• Remember that motivation usually arrives after starting, not before.
• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.

2 While the timer runs

• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
• When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
• Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.

3 When it ends

• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
• Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.

4What to put on

brown noise — Lower and softer than white noise, closer to a waterfall heard from a distance. Good if white noise feels too hissy.