50-minute design work session with a fireplace and a timer, on a day that started badly

1 Before you start

• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
• Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• Decide that today's session does not have to be good. It has to happen.
• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.

2 While the timer runs

• When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.

3 When it ends

• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
• Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.

4What to put on

a fireplace — Crackles and a low roar underneath. Warm, irregular, and undemanding.