45-minute focus session for design work with a train carriage, when nothing else has worked today

1 Before you start

• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
• Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.

2 While the timer runs

• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
• 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

• Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
• Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.

4What to put on

a train carriage — Rhythmic, low, and slightly rumbly. Many people find the motion-and-noise combination easier to work to than silence.