45-minute focus session for coding with white noise, on a low-energy afternoon

1 Before you start

• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
• If your mind is already racing, write down the three loudest thoughts before you begin.
• 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.
• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.

2 While the timer runs

• If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
• If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.

3 When it ends

• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.

4What to put on

white noise — Flat across all frequencies and very effective at covering speech. Some people find it harsh after an hour; keep the volume low.