@Bronwen – Thanks for your comment. Glad I posted this, as I thought I was all alone in this experience!
I was speaking with somebody about this yesterday, and the idea of how seeing a countdown of a limited time, say 12 minutes left, still seems like a workable amount of time. As I so struggle with focusing on any one thing for an extended period of time, when I see how long remains, and how it steadily counts down 12:00 > 11:59 > 11:58 etc., it doesn’t seem too difficult to maintain attention. Hey, I can do that . . . and suddenly the 25 minute commitment is over, and voila, I have something to show for it!
Jeffrey