90-minute focus block for admin and email — birds at dawn, when you have more time than usual

1 Before you start

• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
• Remember that motivation usually arrives after starting, not before.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
• Decide that today's session does not have to be good. It has to happen.
• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.

2 While the timer runs

• 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.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.

3 When it ends

• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
• Have a drink of water before you check anything.

4What to put on

birds at dawn — Bright but not sharp. Better for early sessions than for late ones.