90-minute focus block for applications and forms — vinyl crackle, when you feel fine and want to stay that way

1 Before you start

• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
• Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
• Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.

2 While the timer runs

• If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• 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

• Resist the urge to review the work straight away. Come back to it later with fresh eyes.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.

4What to put on

vinyl crackle — A thin layer of surface noise over nothing much. Just enough texture to stop the room feeling empty.