Nice plan.
A few thoughts and tips:
Since you mentioned self-fulfilling prophecies, you might want to reconsider the one regarding "I don't expect to reach jhana..." (knowing full well that Ven. Ajahn Brahm's standards are pretty high

)
Experiment with concentration objects. I use: the breath, a kasina (grey cardboard disk, candle flame), and a meditation word ("buddho" - very useful when rambling trains of thought are distracting). Initially, I wanted to use the breath, and nothing but the breath. Once I started to experiment, I found that using a different object once in a while really made a difference.
Right effort and desire/aversion: not all desire is "bad". The Buddha explicitly singled out "the desire that leads to further becoming" as the bad guy. Right effort/the four right exertions (i.e. desiring the right qualities to arise, desiring the arisen good qualities to stay, desiring the bad qualities to cease, desiring them to stay that way) is motivated by a kind of desire, after all.
State your intent at the beginning of each meditation. "May a concentration state arise" works for me, for example. Experiment!
Look for small tensions and dissolve them, breathe through them, relax the gaze into them, whatever. When they disappear, a subtle, nice, fuzzy, warm sensation often replaces them. I.e. when breathing, after some time, look out for the tiny suction after an in- our outbreath, and try to leave it alone, not squeeze so hard, relax into it etc. When gazing at a kasina and closing the eyes after some time, there is often a bit of tension in the eyelids etc.
Keep a light, fun attitude. Yes, concentration means to stay glued to the object, but when that's done with a light, appreciative attitude, it's much easier. "Looking at a nice sunset" vs. "staring down demons", or "breathing clean morning air" vs. "mimicking Darth Vader".
While geared more towards insight practice, Tarin's "reformed slacker's guide" is full of good stuff. You can find it at the bottom of the Wiki main page.
Hoping that there was something useful in there for you, and wishing you great success with your retreat,
Cheers,
Florian