45-minute coding session with plain quiet and a timer, if you have done this a hundred times

1 Before you start

• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
• Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
• Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
• Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.

2 While the timer runs

• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.

3 When it ends

• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.

4What to put on

plain quiet — No added sound at all. If you have a quiet room, that is usually better than any recording of one.