50-minute focus session for admin and email with a fan or air conditioner, if you are tired of apps

1 Before you start

• Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
• Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
• Decide that today's session does not have to be good. It has to happen.
• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.

2 While the timer runs

• 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 the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.

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.
• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.

4What to put on

a fan or air conditioner — A constant mechanical hum with no variation. The lack of change is the point — nothing in it asks for your attention.