Focus session · reading · 45 min
Focus session for reading: 45 minutes, a washing machine, when nothing else has worked today
45 minutes of reading, with a washing machine and a note on what to do when you drift.
45:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Feel your ribs move. That is all the machinery you need to pay attention to right now. Nothing else has worked today. That is not a reason to skip this. This is a short one, so let's use the time properly.
1 Before you start
- Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
- Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
- Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
- Decide that today's session does not have to be good. It has to happen.
- Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
2 While the timer runs
- If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
- If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
- 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
- Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
- Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
- Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.
4What to put on
a washing machine — Domestic, mechanical, and oddly steadying. The sound of something else being dealt with.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.