50-minute portfolio work session with brown noise and a timer, when you are at home and cannot settle

1 Before you start

• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
• Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.

2 While the timer runs

• When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
• If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer 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

• 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.
• Have a drink of water before you check anything.

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.