Focus session · writing · 90 min
Focus session for writing: 90 minutes, forest at dusk, when your attention is scattered
90 minutes of writing, with forest at dusk and a note on what to do when you drift.
90:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Let the floor take your weight through your feet, and stop holding yourself up for a second. Scattered attention is the raw material, not an obstacle. This works better when you don't overthink it.
1 Before you start
- Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
- Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
- Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
- Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
- Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
2 While the timer runs
- If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
- It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
- When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
- Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
3 When it ends
- Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.
- Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
- Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
4What to put on
forest at dusk — Birds settling, leaves moving, nothing sudden. It works because it sounds like a place you can safely ignore.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.