Focus session for studying: 90 minutes, a fan or air conditioner, when you have just finished work

1 Before you start

• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
• If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
• Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.

2 While the timer runs

• If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
• When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.

3 When it ends

• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
• Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.

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.