25-minute focus block for decluttering — café murmur, when you are on your own

1 Before you start

• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
• Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.

2 While the timer runs

• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
• When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.

3 When it ends

• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.

4What to put on

café murmur — The blur of other people talking, with none of the words close enough to follow. Some people concentrate better with a low level of company.