50-minute focus session for applications and forms with plain quiet, after a long day

1 Before you start

• Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
• Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
• Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.
• If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.

2 While the timer runs

• 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.
• When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.

3 When it ends

• 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.
• Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.

4What to put on

plain quiet — No added sound at all. If you have a quiet room, that is usually better than any recording of one.