25-minute focus session for decluttering with rain on a window, if you have done this a hundred times

1 Before you start

• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
• If your mind is already racing, write down the three loudest thoughts before you begin.
• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
• Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
• Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.

2 While the timer runs

• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• 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.
• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.

3 When it ends

• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
• Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.

4What to put on

rain on a window — Steady rain is broadband noise with a slow natural rhythm. It masks speech and keyboard clatter without being interesting enough to listen to.