50-minute focus block for planning — white noise, when you have tried everything else

1 Before you start

• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
• Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.

2 While the timer runs

• If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.
• When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.

3 When it ends

• Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.

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.