90-minute drawing session with white noise and a timer, when you are too tired to try hard

1 Before you start

• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
• Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.

2 While the timer runs

• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.

3 When it ends

• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
• Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
• Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.

4What to put on

white noise — Flat across all frequencies and very effective at covering speech. Some people find it harsh after an hour; keep the volume low.