45-minute applications and forms session with brown noise and a timer, when you feel fine and want to stay that way

1 Before you start

• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
• Remember that motivation usually arrives after starting, not before.
• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
• Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.

2 While the timer runs

• If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
• The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.

3 When it ends

• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.

4What to put on

brown noise — Lower and softer than white noise, closer to a waterfall heard from a distance. Good if white noise feels too hissy.