Focus session for writing: 25 minutes, birds at dawn, after a difficult conversation

1 Before you start

• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
• Remember that motivation usually arrives after starting, not before.
• Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.

2 While the timer runs

• The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.

3 When it ends

• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.

4What to put on

birds at dawn — Bright but not sharp. Better for early sessions than for late ones.