25-minute applications and forms session with forest at dusk and a timer, when you have tried everything else

1 Before you start

• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
• Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
• Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
• Decide that today's session does not have to be good. It has to happen.
• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.

2 While the timer runs

• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
• The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.

3 When it ends

• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.

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.