50-minute focus session for coding with rain on a window, if you have done this a hundred times

1 Before you start

• Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.
• 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.
• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.

2 While the timer runs

• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
• If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.

3 When it ends

• 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.
• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.

4What to put on

rain on a window — Steady rain is broadband noise with a slow natural rhythm. It masks speech and keyboard clatter without being interesting enough to listen to.