50-minute design work session with brown noise and a timer, when you are somewhere unfamiliar

1 Before you start

• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
• Remember that motivation usually arrives after starting, not before.
• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
• Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
• Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.

2 While the timer runs

• The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
• Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.
• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
• If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.

3 When it ends

• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.

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.