90-minute focus block for applications and forms — rain on a window, when you have tried everything else

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.
• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
• If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.

2 While the timer runs

• If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.

3 When it ends

• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
• Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.

4What to put on

rain on a window — Steady rain is broadband noise with a slow natural rhythm. It masks speech and keyboard clatter without being interesting enough to listen to.