50-minute focus session for data work with rain on a window, when you want something simple

1 Before you start

• Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
• If your mind is already racing, write down the three loudest thoughts before you begin.
• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
• Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
• Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.

2 While the timer runs

• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
• If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.

3 When it ends

• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.

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.