50-minute planning session with a stream and a timer, if you have five quiet minutes

1 Before you start

• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
• Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
• Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.

2 While the timer runs

• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.
• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
• When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.

3 When it ends

• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.

4What to put on

a stream — Running water with small variation. Softer than rain and less repetitive than a fan.