90-minute applications and forms session with a train carriage and a timer, if you have five quiet minutes

1 Before you start

• Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.
• If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
• 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

• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.

3 When it ends

• Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
• 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

a train carriage — Rhythmic, low, and slightly rumbly. Many people find the motion-and-noise combination easier to work to than silence.