90-minute applications and forms session with café murmur and a timer, when you are doing this for the first time

1 Before you start

• Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.
• If your mind is already racing, write down the three loudest thoughts before you begin.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.

2 While the timer runs

• If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.

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.
• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.

4What to put on

café murmur — The blur of other people talking, with none of the words close enough to follow. Some people concentrate better with a low level of company.