90-minute focus session for data work with plain quiet, on a low-energy afternoon

1 Before you start

• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• 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 you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
• If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.

3 When it ends

• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
• Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.

4What to put on

plain quiet — No added sound at all. If you have a quiet room, that is usually better than any recording of one.