Focus session · practising an instrument · 90 min
Focus session for practising an instrument: 90 minutes, plain quiet, when you have been putting it off
90 minutes of practising an instrument, with plain quiet and a note on what to do when you drift.
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Check your hands. Are they doing anything? Let them stop. You have been putting this off. Starting is the only step that matters. This works better when you don't overthink it.
1 Before you start
- Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
- Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
- Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
- Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
- Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.
2 While the timer runs
- If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
- If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
- When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
- Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
3 When it ends
- Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
- Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
- If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
4What to put on
plain quiet — No added sound at all. If you have a quiet room, that is usually better than any recording of one.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.
If this block does not fit, try 50-minute studying session with plain quiet and a timer, when your attention is scattered, 90-minute focus session for drawing with distant traffic, when nothing else has worked today or Deep work timer: 25 minutes of drawing (a train carriage), when you have been meaning to start.