50-minute focus session for drawing with brown noise, when your attention is scattered

1 Before you start

• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
• Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
• Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.
• Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.

2 While the timer runs

• The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
• When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
• 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

• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.

4What to put on

brown noise — Lower and softer than white noise, closer to a waterfall heard from a distance. Good if white noise feels too hissy.