25-minute focus block for coding — birds at dawn, when you cannot concentrate on anything else

1 Before you start

• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
• Plan to leave the last two minutes for writing down where to pick up next time.
• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
• Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.

2 While the timer runs

• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
• If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.

3 When it ends

• Have a drink of water before you check anything.
• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.

4What to put on

birds at dawn — Bright but not sharp. Better for early sessions than for late ones.