90-minute focus session for portfolio work with forest at dusk, if you are fitting this around other people

1 Before you start

• Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.
• Decide that today's session does not have to be good. It has to happen.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
• Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
• Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.

2 While the timer runs

• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.

3 When it ends

• Have a drink of water before you check anything.
• Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
• Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.

4What to put on

forest at dusk — Birds settling, leaves moving, nothing sudden. It works because it sounds like a place you can safely ignore.