90-minute brainstorming session with forest at dusk and a timer, when you only have a few minutes

1 Before you start

• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
• Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.

2 While the timer runs

• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
• When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.

3 When it ends

• Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Resist the urge to review the work straight away. Come back to it later with fresh eyes.

4What to put on

forest at dusk — Birds settling, leaves moving, nothing sudden. It works because it sounds like a place you can safely ignore.