50-minute focus session for practising an instrument with a fan or air conditioner, if you are sceptical about all of this

1 Before you start

• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
• Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.

2 While the timer runs

• Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.
• If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
• When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.

3 When it ends

• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.

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.