90-minute admin and email session with a library and a timer, when you are not in the mood

1 Before you start

• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• Remember that motivation usually arrives after starting, not before.
• Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.

2 While the timer runs

• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
• 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.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.

3 When it ends

• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
• Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.

4What to put on

a library — Almost nothing: distant footsteps, a chair, a page turning. Useful if you want the feeling of a room where work is normal.