90-minute focus session for research with a library, when you have just finished work

1 Before you start

• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
• Remember that motivation usually arrives after starting, not before.
• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.

2 While the timer runs

• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.

3 When it ends

• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
• Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.

4What to put on

a library — Almost nothing: distant footsteps, a chair, a page turning. Useful if you want the feeling of a room where work is normal.