25-minute focus session for thesis writing with a fan or air conditioner, when you are at home and cannot settle

1 Before you start

• Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
• Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• 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 a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.

3 When it ends

• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.

4What to put on

a fan or air conditioner — A constant mechanical hum with no variation. The lack of change is the point — nothing in it asks for your attention.