25-minute language practice session with café murmur and a timer, when you have just finished work

1 Before you start

• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
• Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
• 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.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
• When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.

3 When it ends

• Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
• Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.

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.