Prosochē means "attention" — but in Stoic practice it is neither "concentration" in the modern sense nor the contemplative "here-and-now" of Eastern practices. It is the concentrated mode of philosophical wakefulness in which consciousness is simultaneously (a) fully present in the action one is doing and (b) holding in the background those teachings (πρόχειρα) under which the action is to be carried out. In Hadot, prosochē is "the fundamental Stoic attitude" — the disposition without which none of the other exercises function: it is impossible to "apply a teaching" to a situation if consciousness is absent at the moment of the situation.

(1) Reduce the task to what is in your hands at this moment (τὸ ἐν χερσί) — one thing, not "your whole life." (2) Before action, a brief inner reconciliation with the teachings: what is this from the standpoint of nature? How would the wise person treat it? Is it mine or not mine? (3) In the action itself, presence — without letting attention drift to parallel impressions (plans for later, grievances, daydreams). (4) Afterwards, a brief observation: was I in the action, or was I rehearsing something else? (5) The discipline is not "always to be attentive" but to return to attention every time you notice the drifting.