50-minute focus block for admin and email — distant thunder, after eating too much

1 Before you start

• Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.
• If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.

2 While the timer runs

• If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.

3 When it ends

• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.

4What to put on

distant thunder — Low rumbles with long gaps. Suits people who find sudden noises more distracting than constant ones.