50-minute focus block for problem solving — café murmur, when you have more time than usual

1 Before you start

• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
• Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".

2 While the timer runs

• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.

3 When it ends

• Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.

4What to put on

café murmur — The blur of other people talking, with none of the words close enough to follow. Some people concentrate better with a low level of company.